The Guardians
by TakaiNoNeko
Summary: AU. Tsuna has always been known as "No-Good Tsuna" all throughout his school years- and it was well-deserved. He had no athletic ability at all, bad grades, and even worse luck. So what's he doing as The Guardians'-a popular band's-manager?
1. No Good Tsuna

Hello! This isn't the first time that I have written a fanfic, but certainly the very first I've had the guts to put online. Hahaha….

Well, anyway, I wasn't able to get the plot bunny out of my head, so I decided to write it down.

-Plot bunny chucks things at my head-

Alright! Alright! Geez…

Disclaimer: The characters of Katekyo Hitman Reborn! does not belong to me. It belongs to Amano Akira.

Warnings: BoyxBoy love and possible OOCness…and the worst grammar EVER.

This fanfic might stop suddenly on January 30th because I can only write until my vacation is over. That, by no means, indicates that I am cutting off the story on the 30th- I might continue the story in April or February. Bwahaha…that sounded so professional…XD

Pairings: I'm not sure about what pairings would be in this story yet, but most likely MukuroTsuna or HibariTsuna….or MukuTsuHiba…

x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Chapter One: No-Good Tsuna

Sawada Tsunayoshi, commonly known as Tsuna to the few friends that he had, was currently sitting on a bench, awaiting the bus to arrive. People beside him tapped their high-heeled shoes or dress shoes against the smooth concrete of the sidewalk, anxiously wishing that the damn bus would just come already because they can't be late for their jobs AGAIN. Meanwhile, cars rushed to and fro before Tsuna, some exceeding the speed limit as they raced against time.

At 7 o'clock in the morning, it seemed everyone was busy- everyone except Tsuna. Tsuna let out a long and weary sigh, suddenly slamming his face into the palms of his hands. It had been the 10th time now that he has been fired from a series of jobs, one after the other. Not that this was much of a surprise, Tsuna reflected, as his life had been always like this.

In his school days, he was always known as "No-Good Tsuna". He wasn't good academically, and indeed, he failed almost all his classes. He wasn't exactly athletic either. In fact, his most dreaded class of the day was gym, because for some reason, whenever they played a ball game, which was always, the ball always somehow found its way to his crotch. It was like his gonads were a magnet for balls. His luck was even worse, if such a thing could be possible- during their school festival, of all the roles he could have picked from the "role hat", he had to pick the one of the clown who people had to throw balls at in order to win a prize.

Actually, it was a miracle he graduated from school at all. He always managed to pass by one point to the next grade after studying non-stop (without sleeping or eating) in the week before the exam. It wasn't that he was lazy or anything before any of his other tests-in fact, he was quite hard working. Every night before an exam he would study until it was the next morning. The only thing was that, no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't get the material that was taught.

After somehow passing college, he was sent out into the world. But, of course, as his academic records were anything but exemplary, any "good" jobs refused him. This being so, he asked for jobs at random places. So far, he had worked as a waiter at "The Mirage" a run-down restaurant located in downtown Namimori, but had gotten fired because his bad luck caused him to trip on air and send a plate full of spaghetti crashing down onto a food critic's head. But really, Tsuna thought, the critic should have thanked him, after helping him cover the sizeable bald spot on his aging head. Then, Tsuna had been hired as a construction worker, after the boss took pity on him, but then he got squashed by the wooden beam he was carrying off the truck. After that, he was hired as a day care worker, and that had actually gotten along pretty well, as the kids liked him, but then a co-worker got jealous of his sudden success and framed him by teaching Lambo, a kid under his jurisdiction, to point his middle finger at his mother. Well, that was what really happened, but Tsuna thought that it was his fault for showing them an episode of Spiderman and forgetting to tell them that Spiderman kept his middle finger down, not up, when preparing to shoot out his webs. After that, he worked at an ice-cream store, but then he forgot to close the door of the refrigerator in the back tightly and the all the ice-ream melted the next day.

He then worked odd-jobs, such as cutting random strangers' yards, but when he almost, somehow, ran over his toe with the lawn mower, he thought it would be in the best interest for himself that he resign from such a deadly job. He worked at a local McDonald's afterwards as the cleaner of the bathrooms, but then he ended up flooding the entire bathroom and was kicked out of the restaurant…literally. By some twist of fate, he got accepted as the secretary of a desperate boss of a small, new business, and he was good at the job too, but one day, important documents that could have resulted in the business flourishing suddenly disappeared, and he was blamed for it. He then found that he could actually make soup, Japanese foods, and some western pastries when he was staying at his mother's one day, and found a job quite easily at "Madame's Pastries", a bakery in a small but peaceful town located in a reclusive part of Namimori. It wasn't that his cooking was exceptionally exquisite, and really, it was at most, decent, but when Madame Pomney, the owner of the store, tasted a small portion of his sponge cake, she had remarked that, though his cooking was barely that of a third-rate chef's, for some reason, whenever she ate his cooking, she felt somehow really happy and light. This view was shared among the rest of the small bakery's patrons but then the bakery had to close, and Tsuna spent many happy days there, but the bakery was forced to close when a new and more modern bakery opened right next door to "Madame's Pastroes" and stole all but its most loyal customers. He then worked as an errand boy for "Gyoza", a small Chinese restaurant, and after a while, he proved to be quite efficient at his job, but more importantly, dedicated. However, he was let off when the Chinese restaurant got a delivery truck and as he didn't have a license, they hired someone else, since they simply didn't need him anymore. Tsuna didn't really mind this though- he felt genuinely happy as the Chinese restaurant was growing more and more in popularity and he truly cared for the owner and the employees. After all, it was one of the few places where the people there treated him kindly.

Now, he got fired from his zoo-keepers job when he entered the "in construction", Safari zone, where a black panther and a dangerously poisonous, but rare snake attacked him simultaneously all at once for some unfathomable reason.

Tsuna sighed as he got up from the bench when he saw the bus coming. "Oh well", he thought, "I would have had to wake up at 4 every morning for that job anyway…so maybe this is for the best."

Tsuna stepped up 5 inches from the edge of the sidewalk, just in time to receive a wave of mud as the bus slid past him and into the bus parking zone.

Tsuna stared at the advertisement for some singer on the side of the bus for awhile incredulously.

Then he sighed and trudged up the stairs of the bus, tracking mud through the floor of the bus. The bus driver, a woman with a voluptuous figure and a doll-like face glared at him, but upon seeing his tormented eyes snapped her rosy mouth shut into a thin line, pitying the poor man.

As he stood among the passengers of the bus, ignoring the disgusted looks they sent him, he wondered what it was that he was going to do next.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Miura Haru slammed her hand flat against the mahogany coffee table, causing the pencils and Styrofoam coffee cups to jump up slightly, her huge, almond shaped eyes narrowed.

"I WILL NOT STAND FOR THIS! TSUNA!"

Tsuna "eeped" in fear and managed to stutter out, "Y-yes, H-haru?"

"STAND UP FOR YOURSELF!" Haru slammed one foot onto the desk and pointed with an index figure up at the glaring yellow lights on the ceiling in a rather inspiring heroic pose.

"THOSE PEOPLE HAD NO RIGHT TO FIRE YOU! IF IT WAS ANYONE'S FAULT, IT WAS THE STUPID ANIMALS'!"

Haru slammed her foot on the table again for emphasis while Tsuna backed away from the chair and let out a frightened, "HA-HIII!"

"You know what? I'm going to call those stupid people! I'm complaining for you!" Haru said, determination flickering in her golden-brown eyes, though calmer now.

But as Haru ran for the phone on the other side of the room, Tsuna launched himself after her, grabbing her legs to prevent her from going any further.

"Haru, don't call…please? Even though it might not have been entirely my fault, in a way it still was. I should have been more careful- and the people are probably scared that this would happen again so they fired me…I'm sure they had my best interests at mind…so…H-haru, p-please?"

Haru stared at Tsuna's warm, wide, brown eyes for a second before slinking to the floor and cupping Tsuna's cheek with her hand.

"…I understand, but Tsuna, I just…I just…"

"I know…I'll work harder next time." Tsuna said, a soft smile gracing his lips.

Haru looked frustrated and opened her mouth to say something, but Tsuna grasped the hand on his cheek and squeezed it slightly, and she quieted.

A silence stretched on for a few minutes before I-pin the other girl in the apartment they were in suddenly popped up and said in a cheerful voice, "ENOUGH! DRAMA! CUT! I BRING WITH ME… FOOD!"

Haru abruptly jumped up, shouting equally as loud, "FOOD?! COME, MY FRIEND! I SHALL HELP YOU PREPARE OUR FEAST!"

Tsuna raised himself up to help but then both girls turned on him and said in quiet, scary voices, "Sit."

Tsuna plopped himself immediately while both girls, now humming, skipped into the kitchen. Settling himself down beside the coffee table again, he sighed, tapping his red pen against the newspaper's job section. Chewing lightly on the cap of his red pen, he glanced at the girls working in the kitchen out of the corner of his eyes.

Since there were no doors separating the kitchen from the living room (where Tsuna was currently situated) and the dining room, Tsuna could clearly see the two girls bustling about. He smiled fondly as he watched the girls help heat up the dinner that I-pin brought with her.

Haru and I-pin were one of Tsuna's only friends. Haru had always been with Tsuna since middle school. Though they had attended different schools, they had met on the way to school one day, and by chance, Tsuna had saved Haru's life. Ever since then, from middle school to high school, she had aspired to be Tsuna's wife. However, when they reached college, they came to be a mutual, unspoken understanding that their relationship was only that of close friends, or at the very most, brother and sister.

It was sort of embarrassing to Tsuna that in their relationship, he served as a younger brother, but it made sense. After all, Haru was everything Tsuna was not-she was smart and talented and always bright and vivacious. While Tsuna had only attended Nanimori Middle School, a standard school at best, Haru had attended Midori Middle School, a prestigious all-girls school who accepted none but the best. Not only that, while Haru had gone onto a well-known and revered university, Tsuna barely made it into a community college-and now, Haru was establishing a reputation for herself as a brilliant fashion designer.

On the other hand, Tsuna met I-pin when he was working at "Gyoza". I-pin was the daughter of the owner of the small Chinese restaurant, and often worked part-time with him as a delivery person after school. Though I-pin was only in high school and sixteen years old, she could take care of herself really well and was a legend among Chinese martial artists in the area. Even though he had long since been let off from the staff of Gyoza, I-pin always visited him whenever she could. When he confronted her about it out of curiosity, she had just smiled at him and said, "Because whenever I am around Tsuna-kun I feel happy." He never questioned her again.

Currently, I-pin had swept all the papers on the coffee table with practiced ease and grace with a flourish, and then sent a red tablecloth made of silky fabric fluttering onto the small table, snapping Tsuna out of his reminiscent thoughts. Haru then promptly settled down their dinner in one smooth motion and provided Tsuna with his chopsticks.

"Ah! Hold on, I have to wash my hands." Tsuna stated with panicky movements, as always.

"Oh, alright." Haru said slightly less cheerful than usual, bringing back the proffered chopsticks and laying it carefully onto a pile of napkins.

"We'll wait for you." I-pin added.

"A-ah. Arigatou." Tsuna said, a bit confused at the unusually solemn expression on his friends' faces.

He quickly washed his hands with soap and then ran back into the kitchen, where he suddenly found his instincts screaming at him to run away. He took a step back as Haru and I-pin narrowed their eyes at him even more.

"Sit down, Tsuna." Haru commanded tersely.

"A-ano…hai…"

Haru laid her chin on her interlocked hands and scrutinized Tsuna carefully.

"Hiii-!"

I-pin coughed lightly then turned to Tsuna, placing her hands onto her thighs in a lady-like fashion.

"After much debate, Haru and I have determined the best way for you to get a new job."

"H-hai?"

Haru leaned forward and said, "We have decided to…"

"Attend a…" I-pin continued.

"CONCERT!" They both screamed.

"H-HAH?!"

"A concert?" Tsuna managed to choke out after a few seconds. Of all the ideas his friends have conjured up for him, this would have to be the strangest. Okay, this wasn't as strange as when they believed that if he stood on one foot the whole day and hopped around the supermarket, he would get a job, but this was a close second. But there was that time when they thought letting a Beluga whale kiss him would ensure good luck to him forever…okay, so maybe this wasn't as strange as some of their ideas but still.

"Yes," they said simultaneously, looking truly serious, "We are going to go to the concert The Guardians will be holding here in Namimori tomorrow!"

"The Guardians?! Aren't those tickets really hard to get?"

"I have connections." Haru replied simply.

The Guardians was the most popular band as of now. As it was made up of the most major figures in the entertainment business, it wasn't such a surprise that this band made it big. With Takeshi Yamamoto, one of the star players of a strong and favorite baseball team of Japan playing the guitar, Sasagawa Ryohei, a champion of many boxing tournaments playing the drums, Lambo, a new and upcoming teen idol on the electric guitar, Hayato Gokudera, both a model and renowned doctor as the keyboardist, Rokudo Mukuro, the actual singer of another band called The Six Paths as both the guitarist and singer of The Guardians, and finally, Kyouya Hibari, a cold but popular actor in a lot of fighting, violent films as the other singer, it was expected that the band would be a hit. It wasn't only because of the fact that all the band members were popular that they made it big- their music was genuinely good.

"I still don't get how this is supposed to help me get a job…."

"After the next concert, they said that they were going to hold job interviews backstage for the position of their manager…I can't believe you missed it- it was all over the news and at my school, they kept squealing over how they would try out for it."

"So we thought, with your personality and talents, you would be chosen, no doubt."

Tsuna kept quiet but in his head, he thought, "What talents?"

There was a moment of silence before Tsuna voiced his opinion.

"But I've heard rumors about The Guardians- their managers usually resign of their own accord after a week or so- and the maximum time that a manager has stayed was one month. One time I even heard that one of the toughest managers in Japan resigned and ran out of the room crying in relief. I definitely CAN'T do this."

"But you're really patient, Tsuna, and you might not be as tough as some guys, but not many things can get you to resign even if they are mean. I mean, insults bounce off you, and the only thing that can get you scared is brute force and "scary" stuff. Besides, it's not like you always resign from your jobs-usually you get fired."

Tsuna withered to the floor in self-pity after getting smacked by the harsh truth. It was true though that the only thing that could make Tsuna resign was if something scared him enough. Insults usually didn't hurt him much, as all throughout his life he had been bullied and called "No-Good Tsuna".

"Still, I don't think it's worth going through all that trouble just to try out for something I might not even get into. The chances of getting picked are slim to none."

"It's still good to just try…besides, you get to go to a free concert. Their music ROCKS."

"And also," I-pin slammed the newspaper that Tsuna had been looking through for jobs onto the table, took a red marker from the floor, circled a huge ad on the top, and raised an eyebrow at Tsuna.

Tsuna frowned but speculated the paper anyway. His eyes comically widened and his jaw dropped when he saw the salary for the manager.

"Holy-! SO MUCH!" Tsuna gaped at the sheer number of zeroes behind the six. He'd never seen so many zeroes together in his life! Okay, excluding the time where he got back ten of his tests at once…but that was beside the point.

As a last resort, Haru said, "You know Sasagawa Ryohei is in the band right? Did you know he's the brother of the popular idol, Sasagawa Kyouko? If you manage to get on the good side of him, you might get to meet your crush"

Sasagawa Kyouko had been the crush of Tsuna ever since middle school-even then she had been the prettiest girl out of the entire school and many guys liked her. I mean, who wouldn't? Not only was she kind, she was also innocent, kind, smart, and athletic. But even though they were in the same class, Tsuna had never had the guts to even talk to her, fearing that she would blow him off- no matter how kind she was, he was still No-good Tsuna after all.

That was why it came as no surprise when, while he was struggling to get a steady job, he heard by chance that she had become a popular idol.

Still, despite that, the possible chance that if he became the manager of the band, he would get to see his crush proved to to much of a temptation for Tsuna, and he fell for the bait, hook, line and sinker. Tsuna sighed and said, "I guess it wouldn't hurt to give it a try…"

Almost immediately, both girls squealed and hauled Tsuna to his feet.

"We must get you ready! Appearance is very important you know!" Haru chirped.

"Yes! Yes! Ooo! Remember that outfit we brought him last Christmas? You know, the one he blushed over and never wore?"

Tsuna paled at the mention of that outfit.

"Yep!" By now, they had entered Tsuna's room, and Haru ran to his small closet, ruffling through it until she found what she was looking for at the back of the closet.

Tsuna attempted to run at the sight of that THING, but I-pin grabbed him with her iron grip, putting her skills to good use.

"Sex appeal! Sex appeal!" I-pin chanted excitedly as she giggled and bounced on the balls of her feet.

Tsuna looked about ready to faint. "I refuse to wear that! I REFUSE!"

"Oh stop being such a girl…" Haru replied, shaking the outfit on its hanger as if to provide emphasis. "It's not that bad…" And it wasn't, but for poor, conservative Tsuna, it proved to be too much. The outfit consisted entirely of black leather. The top was a sleeveless tank top and the bottom was a pair of pants that clung to Tsuna's shapely, almost feminine legs. The outfit also came with numerous belts that were supposed to go on the upper parts of his arms, around his thighs, and one short but big belt was supposed to act as a collar.

"Oh well," I-pin suddenly said, "We'll just have to make you wear it then."

"Wait, what?" Tsuna said fearfully. "What are you doing?"

Haru and I-pin advanced on him with evil eyes.

"W-wait, Haru, I-pin…" Tsuna only managed to say that much before they pounced.

"HIII!!!!!"

x.x.x.x.x.x

Yes, yes. That's it. I apologize for its choppiness and how the characters were so out of character…gah!


	2. The Supermarket and A Meeting

Oh my god, I got eight reviews! YAY! Thanks to all those who reviewed! I was so happy!

Hehehe, is this fast enough Lady Kysha?

To HolyMistress: Actually, this fanfic was leaning toward 1827 (more than 6927 anyway), thanks to the AMVs that I watched and the fanfics….gah…

Plot Bunny: She's actually watching one 1827 themed AMV right now…

Plot Kitty: Yes yes…such a disappointment to the human race…so glad she's not a cat…

RAWR! To Akuno Hikari: I love AUs too- they're awesome. But don't you think my writing style's sort of choppy?

To skitty-nya and Ikary: GO TUNA SANDWICH!

To keelain: Here's the second chapter! I hope you like it…XD

To phaz and SugarIceTea: Hehehe…yes, there are two Lambos. Maybe even three…it depends if I'm lazy or not. Hehehe…

To merissala: I think you are going to be very disappointed because the beginning of this chapter is like the beginnings you don't like and yes, Hibari is part of The Guardians. I'M SO SORRY! –utter failure as a writer-

Ahem, anyway, here's the second chapter of The Guardians.

Disclaimer: All characters used in this chapter belong to Amano Akira.

Pairings: Still unsure as of yet, though currently tipping in favor of the triangle. People have until the part of the story where I decide to make Tsuna seriously involved with someone to tell me what pairing they would like…I'll count up the votes when the time comes.

X.X.X.X.X.X.X.X

Chapter Two: The Supermarket and A Meeting

It was a well-known fact to the neighbors of Haru and Tsuna that each morning for them after the two moved in would be different. The sun still shone into bedrooms in the form of thin slivers of transparent golden light through the thick curtains drawn about the clear windows. Arms still rose impatiently to shut off the stupid, annoying alarm clock that just wouldn't shut up. Sluggish limbs too, always pushed back thick covers and bodies still crawled or dragged themselves into the bathrooms to get ready for the everyday routines.

But there was one thing that always changed for the neighbors, and that was…the daily commotion.

"OH MY GOD! THE RATS! THE RATS!"

For Tsuna, every morning was unique and loud- there was no quiet and peaceful awakening. After moving in with Haru, he wondered why he had always detested awakening late to the alarm clock before.

"But," Tsuna thought as he quickly rubbed the sleep from his eyes, "Oh well, at least, this way, life is never boring."

He rushed out only to find Haru wielding the "giant broom of doom". His eyes then followed her gaze and saw a bunch of rats squealing around in the soup of the dinner they had left on the table and forgotten about last night.

Tsuna let out an embarrassing squeal and as if sensing fear turned to him with malicious intent clear in their eyes. He took a step back, and one rat took a step forward from the noodle take-out box.

"N-nice r-rat…" Tsuna said in a mildly patronizing tone.

The rat somehow seemed to notice that his intelligence was being insulted and promptly let out an ear-splitting screech that sent Tsuna's leg to mush. After letting out its anguished war cry, it sprung into the air towards Tsuna in slow motion. Despite his fear, he couldn't help but notice that the rat looked like a flying squirrel from his position.

Tsuna covered his face just in time to see the rat….suddenly get smacked down to the ground.

"HOW DARE YOU TARGET TSUNA-CHAN! I WILL NOT STAND FOR THIS! KA-HI!" Haru slammed the end of broom down, and Tsuna spied the previously attacking rat recoil in fear.

The aura around Haru suddenly grew calm and eerily quiet.

"…Or else…" Even Tsuna, who was not subject to the extremely scary look that Haru had on, could feel fear start to churn in his stomach as a result of her expression. So, it didn't come as a surprise when all the rats ran away in fear.

"BWAHAHA! I AM THE RULER OF THE RATS!" Haru cackled for a few minutes and savored her triumph before turning to Tsuna.

"Are you alright, Tsu-kun?"

"A-ah, hai. Arigatou." Tsuna couldn't help but admire Haru. Like always, she was dressed nicely-in a comfortable but professional way. She had on an off-shoulder dark blue shirt over a shiny pink halter top and wore a dark purple, almost black, skirt that stopped just above her knee and she also wore black nylons.

Tsuna tilted his head to the side. "You look like you're going to a party."

"Well, I am, that is, after work." She said, swiping strawberry jam onto a piece of toast. "The concert, remember?"

"Oh…" Tsuna said, understanding.

"I might get off later today, and might not have time to change so…"

"Ah."

"Well, since you have the whole day to yourself, why don't you go shopping for us today? We ran out of a lot of stuff."

"Oh sure! What do we need?"

"I already wrote down a list-it's on the refrigerator."

"Oh, thanks."

Haru finished the last of her toast and washed her hands in the sink.

"When I get back, you better have on something nice for the concert, Mr. I refuse to wear that sexy shirt."

"Hai, hai." Tsuna said.

"Alright then, I'm off." Haru grabbed the black purse on the chair next to the coffee table and stopped in front of the door to put on black boots that stopped right above her ankles.

"Have a safe trip!"

"I will, don't worry!" Haru opened the door and then she was gone.

"Aaa-ahh!" Tsuna let out a contented noise as he stretched his arms.

"Well, gotta get ready…" he muttered to himself. With expert skill he brushed his teeth and washed his face at the same time, then quickly ate a cake-bread from the Chinese bakery a block away from their house. Pulling on a scruffy white shirt and baggy jean shorts, he quickly pulled the list of groceries off the refrigerator door, jumped into beat-up black and white sneakers and was off.

Tsuna breathed in deeply as soon as his feet hit the pavement outside. The air was fresh and it was pretty outside, as the sakura had started to bloom. Walking briskly to the supermarket near their house, he entered the supermarket only to get glomped by Fuuta, a part-time college student working there during the morning shifts.

Fuuta had been a kid that he had been a babysitter of when he had been in high school, trying to earn extra money. Fuuta had taken a liking to him and they had kept in touch, even after Fuuta had grown old enough to stay at home by himself.

"Hi, Fuuta."

"Ohayou!" Fuuta replied, then grinned evilly and chuckled as he ruffled Tsuna's hair.

"I grew taller than you, Tsuna-nii"

"Oh, shut up, Fuuta." He said, swatting away his hand playfully.

"How's school?" Tsuna asked after awhile, as Fuuta followed him down the packaged foods aisle.

"It's fine. But having to rank the quality of stuff each day is a bit tiring, though I like it."

Tsuna dumped one pack of each flavor of ramen into the cart he was rolling about.

"That's good."

"How about you, Tsuna-nii? How's your job?"

Tsuna sweatdropped and muttered under his breath. "I got fired again."

"HEEEH?! AGAIN?" Fuuta asked in disbelief.

"Yeah…" Tsuna said, with a feeling of dejection.

Tsuna pushed the cart toward the fresh foods section of the supermarket, picking up an orange and feeling it to see if it would be a good orange by checking its firmness and color. He conked the fruit a few times before unrolling a plastic bag and ripping it from the rest of the roll of plastic bags, then putting the orange into the bag.

"I'm sure you'll find a good job though, so don't worry!" Fuuta said brightly.

"Yeah, thanks Fu-"

"FUUTA!" the owner of the supermarket called.

"AH! I was noticed! See you later Tsuna-nii!"

"Ah, see you later!"

He was reaching out for an apple when he noticed someone standing beside him, looked up and promptly averted his eyes, a blush covering his cheeks.

It wasn't that the girl beside him was exceptionally beautiful, but Tsuna had always been shy around girls, with the exception of I-pin and Haru.

"Um, ano, excuse me?" The girl tapped him on the shoulder and he turned.

"Erm, do you know how to find out if the fruit is good?" She held an orange unsurely in her hands, twisting her dark purple locks of hair with the index finger of the other hand.

Tsuna shook his head to get rid of his embarrassment, and then nodded at the girl. Her shiny purple eyes lit up and she asked, "How?"

"Um, oh! You look at…" Tsuna proceeded to tell the girl how to pick out the best fruits out of the bunch.

"Thank you!" The girl said, clearly elated. "I'm Dokuro Chrome by the way," she introduced herself.

"Gah! Where are my manners? My name is Sawada Tsunayoshi, but my friends call me Tsuna, nice to meet you."

The girl shook his offered hand with a beam.

By then, the both of them had finished picking out their fruits and they waved good-bye, having to part too soon.

Happy at having made a new friend, he turned to the frozen foods aisle whilst humming. Sliding open the door to get to where the milk cartons were, he reached for the milk on the top shelf…and realized he couldn't reach it.

Growling in frustration under his breath, he jumped up and down, trying to reach it. Half-way through a jump though, he felt someone grab him by the hips and raise him up. He let out a squeak, feeling tingles from the places where the person behind him was touching him. Still, he sheepishly accepted the person's help, bracing his legs against the sliding doors so that he could reach deeper into the refrigerator to get a carton of milk. After the checking the expiration date on the carton, he pulled his head back outside, and he was gently lowered to the floor.

He turned around to say thank you but the person was already briskly walking away. Hurriedly closing the door, he ran after the person, grabbing the person's hand.

The person turned to coldly glare at Tsuna with sharp, blue-gray eyes but the force of it softened when Tsuna looked at him with his eyes half-mast, warm, and kind, his lips twitching up at the corners into a soft smile. Haru often referred to that as his "killer smile", and she often claimed it had the power to melt anybody's heart.

"Thank you!" Tsuna said, a slight blush on his cheeks.

The person's eyes widened a bit before he covered it with the white woolen cap he was wearing, and adjusted his dark green scarf to cover his mouth and nose.

"Don't get the wrong idea into your head-you looked like such a pathetic herbivore I couldn't help but pity you."

Tsuna laughed, squeezing the person's hand a bit, "Still, thank you all the same. Allow me to treat you, okay?"

The person opened his mouth to decline but his stomach growled.

"Traitor." The person muttered.

"Well, that settles it. I have to get some ice-cream first though, okay?"

The person nodded slightly, his stomach winning out in the end.

Tsuna laughed and then dragged the person back to his cart where he left it.

Normally, Tsuna wouldn't have been this outgoing, but it had always been a habit for him to suddenly help those who seemed sad, or were not happy-not content with life to cheer up. Perhaps it was instinct, but whenever he had that feeling of helping someone, his conscience wouldn't stop bothering him about it if he ignored it.

"What's your name? I am Sawada Tsunayoshi but you can call be Tsuna."

Tsuna pushed the cart to the ice-cream section and opened the door. He turned around to look at the person who had helped him before, who had his hands stuffed in the pockets of his brown cargo pants.

The person looked away from him before saying, "You can call me whatever you like."

Tsuna blinked before smiling and saying, "Whatever you say, Scary-kun"

Scary-kun looked taken aback before snorting and choking back a laugh.

"Pfft…"

"Oi, oi, I know it's stupid but there's no need to laugh is there?"

"It's so stupid it's hard not to." He said calmly again, but he seemed slightly agitated with himself, as if mad at himself for laughing.

While Scary-kun had been recovering, Tsuna had gazed up at the Cookies and Cream ice-cream in horror, but determined to not ask for help again, he had climbed onto the ledge at the place where the bottom of the door would usually be.

Standing on his tippy-toes while holding onto the rack holding his beloved ice-cream, he turned around from his position and said, "Hey! It's your fault for telling me to come up with a name for you." He pointed his index finger at Scary-kun, but that proved to be his undoing as at the same time he slipped on a thin coating of ice on the ledge.

"Hii!"

Thankfully, Scary-kun was behind Tsuna and reacted quickly, catching Tsuna around the midriff with one arm.

"Really, you're so clumsy."

"Hahaha…I am, aren't I?" Tsuna rubbed the back of his head sheepishly only, to turn cherry red when Scary-kun leant over him to reach for his Cookies and Cream ice-cream because of their close proximity.

"Here." Scary-kun shoved the ice-cream into Tsuna's arms, and then moved away, and Tsuna couldn't help but notice how cold it suddenly got.

"Ah…arigatou. I'm so sorry you had to help me again!"

Tsuna bowed rapidly until Scary-kun stopped him.

"It's okay. Do you need to buy anything else?"

"No, that's all. Just let me pay for this."

The groceries were quickly paid for, and after a few minutes, the two were in front of Tsuna's house, where Tsuna realized that he forgot to bring his keys with him.

"Ha-hiii!" Turning to Scary-kun, he quickly bowed, "I'm so sorry but I forgot to bring my keys! I-I'll make it up to you somehow!"

"Just treat me to some miso soup, and we'll call it even."

"Ah, ok."

So, picking up the groceries he had set down in front of his house, he led Scary-kun to the nearby park, where a food stand was located at the entrance.

Dashing up to the small stand, he asked the girl there, "Ayumu-chan, is Bianchi-san there?"

"Heh? Iie."

"Good. I'd like miso soup please and dango if you will."

"Right! Comin' right up!"

In just a few moments, the two of them were sitting on a park bench under the sakura. Sitting apart from each other, Scary-kun sipped his miso soup calmly while Tsuna savored the dango he had in his hands.

Surprisingly, it was Scary-kun who started the conversation first.

"I hate this season."

"Heh?! Nande?"

"I hate sakura."

"Doushite?"

Scary-kun raised an eyebrow at Tsuna.

"You sound like a little kid."

Tsuna laughed and scratched his cheek. "Ya, I do, don't I?"

Having finished his dango by then, he placed the long toothpick that they were on carefully onto his lap.

"It's just that I don't get how you can't like this season and sakura…" Tsuna held out his hands, letting the some stray sakura, blown off by the wind, fall into his cupped hands.

"Because it's always so cheerful and full of life in this season, don't you think?" He asked Scary-kun, turning around to smile at him wistfully with cherry blossoms on his hair and clothes.

Scary-kun shrugged, taking another sip of his soup. "I don't like sakura because I met some very unpleasant people under it."

"Well," Tsuna said, putting his index finger in his chin and (unknowingly) pouting cutely, "I have an idea!" he said, breaking out of his thinking pose.

Taking the tooth pick from his lap, he grabbed one of Scary-kun's hands from the soup he was holding and placed his toothpick in it.

At his companion's questioning look he said, "It's a souvenir of you meeting me, so this way, when you think of sakura, you can just think of me!"

At Scary-kun's incredulous look, Tsuna faltered for a second before reassuring him.

"Not that I mean that meeting me was better than that other meaning, but I'm just saying…"

Tsuna continued to fumble about his words, embarrassed, but Scary-kun stopped him by gripping his hand and squeezing it, assuring Tsuna that he had not done something wrong.

_Thank you._

Blushing a bit, Tsuna adjusted his hands so that their fingers were interlocked with each other's.

_I understand. It's okay. _

Tsuna smiled at their hands and glanced at Scary-kun who was glaring in the other direction.

_You're welcome._

Coughing, Scary-kun asked, "How are you going to get into your house?"

Despite that interruption, they still sat on the bench, holding hands.

Tsuna leaned back and gaze up at the sky.

"Well, I have another friend that gets out of school at three today, and she has a set of keys today too, so I just have to wait until she gets out."

He glanced at the watch on his hands. "UWAH! IT'S ALMOST 4!"

He jumped out of his seat and grabbed his groceries, disconnecting their hands in the process.

"I'm so sorry! It was very nice to meet you, but I have to go now." Tsuna bowed deeply and then he was running away before Scary-kun could stop him.

Scary-kun was left on the bench with widened eyes and a forgotten soup. He blinked at the sudden disappearance before smiling secretly under his scarf, bringing the offered toothpick to his lips.

"Maybe," thought one Hibari Kyouya as he closed his eyes, "Maybe this season isn't so bad after all…."

X.X.X.X.X.X.X

Okay, that's it. Wow, they blinked a lot in this chapter, didn't they? That was a little HibariTsuna tidbit, because I was watching an AMV involving them while I did this. In the next chapter, Tsuna's finally going to meet the band members. FINALLY! I apologize for being extremely slow with my stories.

As for my attempt at a romantic scene…I am so sorry…I think I just destroyed the couple…


	3. The Concert and the Fight!

Yes, yes…this is why I can only write AUs for fanfiction-sooner or later they go out of character. Hehe…I forgot that answering reviews can get this deleted! GAH! Oops!

Don't worry, it's just that since Tsuna IS the main character after all, and so, he's focused on a lot. As soon as I get everyone's personality developed, it's onto the real stuff. Anyhow, 8059 WILL be a side pairing in this. Because I like it anyway…hahaha…the powers of the authoress…

Disclaimer: Characters used belongs to Amano Akira and Sakura Addiction is the product of SPLAY.

Pairings: Votes are currently tipping in favor of the tuna sandwich. I think. Or was it a tie between that and 1827? Ugh…Majorly confused…ahahaha…Just to make sure, please tell me your preferences EXPLICITLY or I won't be able to tell, hehehe…Okay, so far YamaGoku is winning the side pairing thing.

Before I rant again, here's the story.

---------

Chapter Three: The Concert and the Fight?!

"Really, Tsuna." I-pin said as she opened the door to his house.

"I'm so sorry. Thanks."

"No problem, but Haru's going to be mad at you if she ever found out."

"I _know._" Tsuna said, shuddering at the mere thought.

"Well, I have to go now, Tsu-kun. Got to do my homework and prepare, you know."

"Right. Thanks again!"

"You're welcome!" I-pin called back, before she dashed down the street.

Tsuna sighed as he closed the front door behind him and took off his shoes.

"Right. Have to get ready."

Dragging the groceries to the kitchen, he quickly sorted out the material in the bags and put them into the correct places. Despite what his grades would suggest, he was actually a very organized person- part of the reason for this quirk in his character was because of Haru however, as she beat the idea of being organized into his brain. Literally. With a spatula. But that was a whole other story.

Pleased with his quick work, Tsuna went into his room and grabbed his towel, which was blue with brownish golden little tuna fish on them. He then went into the bathroom humming a lullaby his mother used to sing to him when he was little. Undressing quickly, he went under the showerhead and after a few minutes of standing under a rush of warm water, reached his hand out for his regular shampoo in the foggy steam.

He shook the shampoo bottle a few times only to discover that there was nothing left inside of it. Sighing, he glanced at one of Haru's many shampoo bottles. Tsuna scrunched his nose up as he debated what to do.

On one hand, he could just wash his hair without shampoo and end up being a little smelly, in the consequence. Not to mention Haru will probably sniff at him when she got back-and if she found out that he smelt like old dog, she would probably knock him out- even though he was her precious Tsu-chan.

On the other hand, if he washed his hair, Haru would probably squeal over him, and he just might be called a wimp for using a woman's shampoo…But then he realized that he also had a job interview today, and he can't afford to stink even the slightest bit.

Sighing he gazed at the enormous collection of hair products lining the edge of the bath tub. All were of the same brand but there were so many different kinds. Though all were from a brand called "LuxHair", there were pink, brown, blue, green, purple, red, and bottles of any existing color on earth- even blends of two colors in a swirling pattern. Looking at the bottles made Tsuna feel a headache coming on so he just grabbed a bottle randomly, and it turned out to be the brown one, which apparently was "chocolate-flavored".

Realizing that he had been thinking too much already in the shower, he quickly lathered and then rinsed his hair. After washing himself with a bar of Dove soap and allowing the water to wash over him for a few more precious moments, he left the bathroom while wrapping the towel around his waist. Steam billowed out after him, seeming to caress him before moving away and dissipating into the air.

Travelling to his room, he opened his closet and riffled through it for a few seconds, wondering what would make Haru not slap him in the face for dressing sloppily.

"Actually," Tsuna speculated, "Haru's more like a motherly older sister than a friend, now."

He finally decided on a semi-professional attire. At first, he had wanted to wear a white tank top with a blue "Tsuna" inscription written on it under a dark blue dress shirt, but then he decided it would stick out too much at a concert. Besides, the dress shirt had been made of silk and was an expensive gift from his dad- the same dad who had suddenly disappeared from the lives of his mom and him when he was just a five year old. Needless to say, that thought depressed him and he decided it would be better if he didn't wear it.

So now he pulled a dark blue T-shirt with a big "27" on the front of it over his head, and then put a black, slightly puffy vest over that. He then put on baggy black jeans that had many pockets. Feeling that his hair was still a bit wet, he shook his head, sending a few droplets to the floor, then picked up his towel and was drying his hair with it when the doorbell rang.

Shouting a muffled "Hold on", he quickly finished drying his hair, then rushed to the door, opening it.

He stared in shock for a few minutes before shouting "I-PIN?!"

"Yes?"

Tsuna could only point at her with a shaking finger in his shock.

Now, normally, I-pin was a rather reserved and tom-boyish girl. She usually preferred to just wear jeans and a long T-shirt with Tsuna and Haru. In fact, the most revealing outfit she ever wore was the delivery uniform of Gyoza, which was merely a white shirt coupled with a white skirt and white slippers. By no means did I-pin ever wear make-up, but now, but now…

"I…I think I need to reevaluate all that I have ever known." Said Tsuna.

"You're overreacting Tsuna-nii…"

Tsuna gave I-pin a look.

"Can you please tell me why you're dressed like that?" Tsuna asked, then said, "Actually, who are you, you imposter? What did you do to I-pin?"

I-pin sighed and shook her head.

"It's okay! It's me! I-pin! I just wanted to…I just wanted to…" I-pin blushed.

"….Impress Hibari Kyouya." Haru continued.

"Yeah…" I-pin said, embarrassed, looking down at the shiny black stilettos she was wearing.

Wait. WHAT?

I-pin and Tsuna both did a double-take and recoiled.

Haru sweatdropped. "No need to be so thrilled to see me?"

"Ah, sorry, Haru-chan. You scared us back there. Where did you come from?"

"I just came back. Nice outfit by the way."

Tsuna gaped.

"Not nice! The boys will drool over her! It'll draw attention to her!"

"…That's sort of the point…"

"No! I refuse to let her go out like that." He pointed at the red tube top that she was wearing, which exposed part of her midriff and belly button. "It reveals too much!"

Haru pointed at the shiny jewels sewed into the top, which formed the words, "Fighting Princess".

"The jewels will blind the guys! There are lots of shiny lights there that will reflect off the jewels! It's actually protection."

"And," I-pin added, "I'm wearing this over it anyway." I-pin tugged the collar of her long-sleeved black jean jacket for emphasis.

"…Then what about her skirt?" Tsuna shouted in retaliation.

I-pin looked down at her black skirt, which had two sets of ruffles going around it- one that served as the hem and the other set was located 1 inch above the hem.

"…It doesn't look that bad to me…it stops right above the knee…" Haru said.

"Then…erm…" Tsuna said. He thought for a few minutes before surrendering.

I-pin giggled, adjusting the gold chain (that served as the strap of her black purse) on her shoulder.

"Well, I've got the tickets in my purse," Haru said, "Do you have everything, Tsuna?"

"Um…" Tsuna checked the patted the numerous pockets of his pants. "Keys, check, money, check, cell phone, check, pen, check, notepad, check."

"Yep, all done." He closed his eyes, giving a wide smile, missing the perplexed looks his two friends gave him.

"Wait…" Tsuna's eyes widened. "My shoes!" he cried, and hurriedly rushed back into the house. Shoving on his black and white sneakers, he jumped out of the house, and locked the door.

"Okay, now I really am ready."

Haru and I-pin shared amused looks before they boarded Haru's blue jeep.

As Tsuna passed him to open the door though, she paused, sniffing the air.

"Do you smell chocolate?"

For some reason, Tsuna suddenly burst out laughing, falling into the jeep.

Haru huffed, annoyed at Tsuna's antics, and slammed the red jeep's door that Tsuna had opened before, stalking to the driver's seat.

Haru started the engine and they were off.

X.X.X.X.X.X

Tsuna gazed with open-mouthed awe at the dancing lights sweeping around the dark dance floor. The place was so jam-packed that Tsuna couldn't move without bumping into someone. A lot of people were already dancing to some techno music that the DJ was testing.

I-pin shifted nervously, and kept glancing up at the stage. She twirled around a wavy piece of hair and chewed on her lip gloss-covered lips. For this occasion, she had let down her hair from its usual braids.

"Why did you go through all this for that guy?" Haru asked, glancing at I-pin.

"Because he's the coolest!" I-pin gushed, brown eyes growing starry. "He's so strong in all those movies."

"They're movies- he could have a stunt double or something like that…it could all be coordinated you know."

"That's not true!" I-pin defended fiercely. "He had actually won quite a few real-life fighting tournaments, and his co-actors always laugh nervously when interviewed, saying that the reason why the audience is so captivated by how real everything seems is because it actually was real. They said that Hibari-san actually was intending to hurt them, and that in the "stunts" they actually feared for their lives."

"…And you like that sort of man." Haru stated incredulously.

"Yes…He's so dreamy when he says 'I'll bite you to death.'" I-pin's lips curled in her fangirl-y delight.

Haru looked a bit disturbed at how utterly wrong "dreamy" and "Hibari" sounded together.

"Like you have a right to say anything either." I-pin said.

"I can't believe you like MUKURO of all people. He's so freaky!"

Several evil eyes turned I-pin's way, and Tsuna shrank back but I-pin ignored the stares.

"Ha-hii!" Haru turned up her nose in disdain. "Every girl needs a bad boy at least once in her life!"

"And," she added, "I think those three ear piercings are hot."

A passing fan added her thoughts to the statement by saying, "Amen", before fading back into the crowd.

"See? Even someone else agrees with me."

I-pin pouted but turned away, having nothing else to say.

Haru, spotting Tsuna's uncomfortable look cooed at him and petted his soft hair.

"Don't worry, Tsuna-chan. You will always be number one in my heart."

Before Tsuna could explain that that wasn't it, the manager of the club they were in, "Lost Souls", went onto the stage, grabbing the microphone.

"Please sit back and enjoy, ladies and gentleman, The Guardians will be right out!"

I-pin and Haru squealed and turned to each other, communicating with hand gestures that only fangirls could ever understand.

Tsuna sighed, looking around at his surroundings.

As Namimori was a very small town, there were no concert halls there. So, as a substitute, the band had decided to perform at the biggest club of the town, which was "Lost Souls".

It was newly built and modern-looking and Tsuna thought it quite nice, though he didn't frequent enough clubs to be able to compare it with other clubs. It was a bit too small for the multitude of people present but nevertheless, he rather liked it.

He was jerked away from his observations when a scream ripped out among the fans of The Guardians.

The members of the band filed onto the stage and took their positions on the stage.

"Good evening," A man with dark blue hair spoke into the microphone, his voice deep. Some girls sighed at the mere sound of his voice, but Tsuna shuddered. There was a lisp in the voice that reminded Tsuna of a sly snake.

Tsuna squinted and managed to see three, small hoop earrings dangling from one ear of the man.

"Ah," he realized. "This must be Rokudo Mukuro."

The weird thing about Tsuna was that, though he knew who the members of The Guardians were, and what their position was in the band, he had no idea how they looked like.

"Testing…Testing…" An even deeper voice joined Rokudo Mukuro and Tsuna followed it to a man with black hair and sharp eyes. Tsuna's eyes widened.

The eyes were so familiar…for some reason…

Looking at I-pin's flushed face, he realized that this must be Hibari Kyouya.

"Alright," Mukuro said, "Are you ready?!"

"YES!" answered the crowd.

"Good." He laughed, and Tsuna refrained from laughing himself. That laugh was just so weird!

"As a commemoration for the sakura of this season," He started to say, sending a sly glance to Hibari, "We would like to present to you our new song, Sakura Addiction."

The lights dimmed, but Tsuna caught Hibari glaring at Mukuro before the lights went out completely.

In the still darkness, the band started to play its music.

Then, all of a sudden, the lyrics began, and the light slowly began to appear again.

"Sakura saku maiochiru…" Hibari started to sing.

"Nani mo nai boku no te no ue…"

"Hakankute yasashikute…" It was Mukuro's turn now, and to Tsuna's surprise, he found that he rather liked his voice.

"Kowaresou kimi mitai na…"

"Hana!" Hibari suddenly sang. Secretly, Tsuna admired whoever thought to do this- with Hibari's stronger voice, it led to a much greater impact on the audience.

The drums, the keyboard, and the guitars made their appearance, creating a dancing, catchy tune.

"Itsumo no kaisatsu wo

Surinuketeiku ano ko wa sou

Kagayaku me wo shite

Mainichi nanika tsukami totte yukun da…."

"Boku wa to ieba

Nani mo nai mainichi kurikaeshite

Hieta kokoro motte sa

Hana hiraku shunkan sagashite me wo tojiru" Mukuro continued.

Then:

"Sakura saku maiochiru

Nanimonai boku no te no ue

Hakankute yasashikute

Kowaresou kimi mitai na hana" They sang the chorus together, and the instruments appeared.

The two now randomly alternated singing their lines, along with some echoing and special effects, singing together at times.

"Yogoreta supaiku nara

Kokoro no oku nishimaikonda

Kore de iin da yo to

Sugiyuku haru no nigemichi sagashiterun darou

Nakushite akirameta boru

Mitsukete kureta no wa kimi deshita

Haru ga kuru sakihokoru

Gurando ga kaze ni yureru

Fumishimete nakidashita

Koboresou kimi mitai na hana

Koko ni aru wasuremono

Tori ni kita boku no te no ue

Hakanukete yasashikute

Kowaresou kimi mitai na hana…"

Tsuna's eyes widened when he heard the slight but expert fluctuating of the voice near the end of the song, and stared at Mukuro in amazement.

A slow smile formed on Tsuna's lips. He was going to enjoy this more than he had thought, after all.

X.X.X.X.X.X.X

"Tsuna, calm down." Haru commanded while I-pin patted Tsuna's back.

"I-I think I'm going to die." He managed to say between great gasps of air.

"Nonsense." Haru said in her perfect English. "You'll be fine."

"That's right! Tsuna-onii-chan will do fine!"

Breathing a little easier from his friends' encouragement, he nodded.

Thinking back to the song, he had heard just a little a while ago, at the concert, he smiled.

"Okay, wish me luck!" His head snapped up in determination and he entered the designated room before he could change his mind and lost his nerve, and was confronted with the charcoal-rimmed eyes of dozens of females. Feeling very out of place, he slinked back into a dark corner and waited for instructions.

Eventually, the attention strayed from him back to whatever they were doing previously.

"Oya?" A familiar voice said, "I thought I was the only male auditioning!"

Tsuna looked up and his large eyes connected with red ones.

"Ah, me too!" He replied, laughing.

"My name is Dokuro!"

"My friends call me Tsuna."

"Ah, Tsuna then."

A couple of women were looking at his new acquaintance with disgust.

Dressed sloppily in a bright green hoodie and orange pajama pants, his image was hardly appealing. His black hair was messy and greasy, and his skin was dotted with pimples.

Still, despite that, Tsuna found that he rather liked him.

"Heh? Honto ni?" Tsuna laughed, remembering that morning. "I have a friend named Chrome Dokuro! What a coincidence, ne?""Chrome? Does she have purple eyes and hair, and sort of looks like Mukuro from The Guardians?"

Tsuna thought for a minute, then answered, "Now that I think about it, yeah! She does!" He laughed. "Do you know her?"

"Yeah…"

"Wah! What a small world!"

Dokuro slid down next to Tsuna in his own corner. They sat in silence for awhile before Tsuna started to unknowingly hum Sakura Addiction.

"Heh? Do you really like that song?"

"Mmm!" Tsuna nodded.

"Why?" Dokuro said in a suddenly very unfriendly tone.

"Heh?" Tsuna replied, a bit scared at the sudden mood change. "Well…"

Tsuna closed his eyes and let his heart speak for him, "When I hear it, I suddenly feel very warm and calm…and I feel like I am going back and seeing memories…"

Tsuna stuck out his tongue in embarrassment. "It's so silly isn't it?"

"On the contrary," Dokuro replied, "It's exactly what I'm looking for."

His dark bangs were hiding his eyes, but a smirk was clearly visible on his face

"Heh?" In a flash, Tsuna was under Dokuro. "Dokuro-san?"

With both hands on either side of Tsuna's head, he grinned down at him predatorily.

He slowly lowered himself until his face was only inches away from Tsuna's. He saw Tsuna raise a hand, as if to stop him, as expected, but instead, Tsuna poked him on the cheek.

And promptly freaked out when a pimple fell off his face.

"DOKURO-SAN! UWAH! IT FELL OFF!"

Dokuro stared at him in disbelief for a second before collapsing onto Tsuna.

"Kufufufufufufufu…"

"Oi!" Tsuna sat up and nudged Dokuro, who was laughing into his lap. "Dokuro-san…" he whined. "You're heavy."

"Sorry." He said, then lifted himself up to sit beside Tsuna again.

"You know, your laugh sounds like Mukuro's!"

For some reason, Dokuro froze beside him, and he turned to him, worried. "Dokuro-san?"

"Ah. Well, now I just have to keep your mouth shut, don't I?"

"What do you mean?" Tsuna backed up against the wall as Dokuro leaned closer.

Dokuro suddenly looked angry and started to say, "You know what I mean," but was suddenly jerked back. The girls in the room suddenly squealed and Tsuna winced at the deafening roar of it.

"Get off him," a cold voice said, and Tsuna looked up to see Hibari holding Dokuro up by the back of his hood.

"We have to go back now so that we could interview these idiots." A man with longish silver hair and green eyes said from the doorway.

"Gokudera-kun!" Some girls squealed.

Gokudera glanced distastefully at them before turning to Dokuro-san.

Tsuna watched, along with the rest of the females in the room, as he peeled off his fake pimples, pulled away his wig, and took of his contacts.

Dokuro-turned Mukuro turned to Tsuna with twinkling eyes, then said, "Sucker."

Gokudera snorted at the shocked look on Tsuna's face, "Idiot."

Hibari did not say a word but swished out of the room with the other two band members. There was silence for a minute before all the girls turned to Tsuna, some with pity, the majority with relief that they weren't him and regarded him with a condescending attitude.

Tsuna hid in that little corner and clenched his fists together. Any other day, he would have been blushing in embarrassment and humiliation, and he would have run away by then.

But he'd promised Haru that he would try his best this time, so he stayed put, clenching his fists. He wouldn't go him until he did all he could do.

X.X.X.X.X.X.X.X.X.X.X.X

It was finally his turn.

He was the last one to be called into the room where the interviews were being held. Some women had gone home crying or looking disappointed and indeed only 5 women hadn't come out crying. Tsuna couldn't help but notice all those women were the prettiest that had been in the room.

Apparently, not coming out of the room was a good thing, as before it was explained that from those in the room, only a few selected people would be chosen. Tsuna, filled with determination to get back his lost pride, opened the door after taking a few deep breaths.

He was faced with scrutinizing eyes, and felt some of his confidence drain away. The five women that hadn't come out were lined along the far wall of the room, ogling and drooling.

"You had the guts to come in?" Mukuro asked, "Have you no shame?"

Gokudera scoffed. "I don't even need to question him. I don't want an idiot for a manager."

A man with spiky black hair and brown eyes laughed pleasantly and patted Gokudera on the back, "Now, now let's give the guy a chance."

Gokudera slapped his hand away and scowled, turning away from him.

At the baseball bat in the black-haired man's right hand, Tsuna realized that this must be Yamamoto.

"Well, I don't really care who the manager is as long as they are able to make good octopus balls." A drawling, lazy voice spoke from a dark corner of the room, and Tsuna identified the voice as Lambo, defining him by the characteristic cow print dress shirt he had on underneath a black suit jacket.

"NICE TO MEET YOU TO THE EXTREME!" Ryohei said to Tsuna. Of all the members of the band, Tsuna only knew the most about this member…for obvious reasons.

"Ah, nice to meet you too." He said.

Falling back into blissful thoughts of Kyouko, he forgot where he was for a second before he snapped back to reality when Mukuro said to him, "You know, you are the only guy to join this interview. Why do you want this job anyway? The money? The fame?"

"The money." Tsuna answered without missing a beat.

All were surprised at the honest answer, but then they grew somber.

Mukuro had on an "I knew it" face, Gokudera scoffed again, and Yamamoto, Lambo, Ryohei, and for some reason, Hibari seemed slightly disappointed.

"It's obvious. You fail. Bye." Gokudera said, making shooing gestures at Tsuna.

"Actually…" Mukuro smirked, "Come to Vongola Corporation tomorrow by 10 o'clock."

"Heh?!" Tsuna's eyebrows shot up in surprise.

"I'm giving you a chance." Mukuro said, "Be thankful."

Tsuna's eyes lit up and he bowed. "Thank you!"

"You can all go now."

Tsuna practically ran out of the room, eager to tell his friends about it.

Meanwhile, after the last of the candidates filed out of the room, Gokudera turned to Mukuro, angry.

"Why did you say that? I thought you hated people like that!"

"Precisely," He said, "I want to teach that brat a lesson."

X.X.X.X.X.X.X.X

As Haru and I-pin had left before him, he decided to stop by the supermarket on his way back from home. Almost as soon as he stepped into the supermarket, he spotted a familiar figure.

"Scary-kun!"

Scary-kun turned slightly, then ignored Tsuna and strode past him out into the night.

"Oi!" Tsuna sprinted after him.

"I'm not in the mood to deal with you right now."

"I won't talk."

And so, they walked in silence for a few minutes before Scary-kun asked, "Aren't you going to ask why I am wearing winter clothes in the middle of spring?"

Tsuna smiled, "If you wanted to tell me, you would have already. Besides, you must have a reason for not telling me, so I'm not going to push."

"I am curious though." Tsuna admitted.

"Don't you want to know my real name?"

"Of course! But its okay, it's not going to kill me if you don't."

"I'll…"

"Huh?"

"BITE YOU TO DEATH." Scary-kun slammed Tsuna against the wall of the nearest building.

"You piss me off so damn much. You act like you are different than them, but I can tell that you're not!"

"Tell me, what would you prefer: music or money?"

"Money, of course."

"See? Just the same. I can't believe that for a second I actually believed you were different."

"You act like that is a crime." Tsuna said, confused. "I barely listen to music, and I've been fired from so many jobs that money is like a treasure for me. I'm sorry if I live under different circumstances from you." Tsuna felt tears gather at the corner of his eyes. "You act just like The Guardians!"

Scary-kun took a step back from the sudden burst of emotion.

Tsuna wiped away tears from his eyes. The whole humiliation thing took a lot more from him than he thought. "I'm so stupid, crying over such a silly thing, aren't I?"

"If you're truly not like them, prove it to me."

"Heh?"

"Prove that you are different."

"I don't get what you mean," Tsuna said slowly, "But tomorrow, I'm going to work my best no matter what that stupid band throws at me."

"I'm looking forward to it." Scary-kun muttered under his breath.

"Wait…" Tsuna asked, "What do you mean?"

Suddenly connecting Hibari's voice to his, Tsuna asked, "Scary-kun…you couldn't be…."

Hibari smirked. "See you."

Tsuna watched as Hibari's figure grew smaller and smaller as he walked away from him, eventually blending into the dark night.

Laughing at what he had thought before, he walked back home.

"Nah, Scary-kun couldn't possibly be Hibari-san…"

x.tSuNa.x

Okay, I found that this chapter was sort of choppy again, and unnatural. I was struggling so much on the attempted triangle part….hehe…Sorry for the late update! I'll try to get out two chapters tomorrow to make up for it.


	4. The Trial

There's a reply function?! Where?! I can't see it! AAAAHHHH!!! Wait, there it is. Haha…

Okay, okay. Thanks to all those who reviewed. Haha, short and sweet. Yesss…XD

Pairings: ….I think it's still in favor of the tuna sandwich? I just noticed there are no requests for MukuroTsuna….OH YOU POOR PINEAPPLE! NO ONE WANTS YOU WITH TUNA!

Disclaimer: Amano Akira's name is SO cool, and so are her (?) characters and manga. So I am using her characters to make my story cooler. For the focaccia bread, it from Terri McCarrell, by the way.

x.TSUNA.x

Chapter Four: The Trial

The next morning, Tsuna got ready for battle. After brushing his teeth like a mad man, washing his face, and taking a quick shower, he whipped himself up a huge breakfast. That was how Haru found him at seven in the morning-dressed in a frilly pink apron and expertly making food.

"Ohayou, Tsuna-chan."

"Ohayou!" Tsuna gestured toward the dining table, and Haru's mouth watered immediately.

Food of every kind was laid neatly upon the table. A basket of homemade bread sat in the middle of the table. Two bowls of miso soup were laid out as well, located opposite each other. Fried drumsticks lay on a neat, white paper plate to the right side of the basket of bread, and a pitcher of ice tea was provided to the left of the basket. Everything seemed to be shining radiantly in the light, and the smell of the food made it simply irresistible.

Presently, Tsuna laid down a paper plate full of fried shrimp down in front of Haru, and handed Haru a paper bag. Digging through it, Haru pulled out a plastic fork wrapped nicely within a pink napkin, a pile of said pink napkins, and then a cute little pink lunch box with painted flowers at the corners of the box, which was filled with fried rice and yeen mien. (1) Mixed in within it were finely chopped pieces of vegetables, fried eggs, and medium-sized portions of fried pork.

At that moment, Haru thought that she might just die from happiness.

"KYAAA! TSUNA-CHAN! ARIGATOU!"

He grinned, "No problem."

"Ah! What's the occasion?" Haru suddenly gasped. "It couldn't be!"

Tsuna nodded, "Ah, I got-"

"A BOYFRIEND?" Haru exclaimed.

"Wait, what? NO! Where did you get that from?"

"Well, I just realized how Tsuna makes such a great housewife…"

Tsuna laughed. "How did you come to that idea?"

"Well, number one, you gave me a lunch just like a good housewife would to a family member. And then…"

Haru held up the bowl of miso soup as if it were a god.

"YOUR FOOD IS DELICIOUS!"

"That's just because my mom taught me to cook…"

"Ha-hii! I'm jealous-desu!"

"Oh yeah…before I forget, what are you doing up so early?"

"I have to get to work by 10, and I want to do some background research first."

"Uwah! So resourceful! My Tsuna-chan is growing up"Haru sang. "But more importantly, YOU GOT THE JOB! CONGRATULATIONS!"

Tsuna laughed nervously. "Yeah, thanks."

He felt a little guilty from withholding the whole truth from Haru, but he didn't want to worry her. Besides, she looked so happy for him, he just couldn't find it in himself to elaborate.

"Ah, well, good luck!" Haru said as she put on her shoes.

"See you tonight!"

"Have a safe trip!"

The door closed with a click and Tsuna sipped his miso soup while he read numerous newspaper articles on the band and Vongola Corporations. Later he would have to search online too, he realized.

He sighed, then started to read the newspaper article with renewed vigor.

"No matter what it takes," he thought, "I will show them I can do it…"

x.1827 is love.x

Tsuna stopped in front of the looming tower that was the headquarters of Vongola Corporations. Apparently, it had started out as a small fishing company (particularly involving shellfish). It dealt with the exporting of it and importing of it to and from Italy, hence the name. It had eventually led to it somehow developing into an entertainment business, but for the sake of tradition, the second CEO of the company, after Giotto, the first CEO, who had founded it, kept the name as is, despite the weirdness of it. Mainly, the company now dealt with the media, entertainment businesses, and things of that sort, but Tsuna found out that the company still did have a little part of it that does the same thing that the original Vongola Corporations had done-that is, dealing with the selling of shellfish, and matters relating to that.

Vongola Corporation had a sort of hierarchy. The CEO was called varying names according to their generation. For instance, as this was the ninth generation, the current boss was called the Ninth. The next would of course, be called the Tenth. The position of boss wasn't passed down from father to son- rather, the best person to fit the position in the company would be chosen to be the boss when the time comes. It didn't even matter if the next boss was previously a cleaner of the bathrooms for the company, so long as he fits the requirements for being a good boss. Following the boss, the factions of the higher classes came next. Among these, the ones that stood out the most were the factions labeled "Acrabaleno" and "Varia". The Acrabaleno faction consisted of only seven people, and it was said that those in that faction were the youngest but the best of the whole company. They served as the best managers, instructors, and producers, among other things. The Varia, on the other hand, were a bunch of aggressive managers that were only used for the worst case scenarios- that is, dealing with a talent that is extremely impertinent, or things of that sort. They are usually dispatched to famous people too, as the managers have to be both tough and good at their job- and the Varia just fit that description to the very last letter. In something known as the "Crib" incident, the Varia even formed as a band when the company encountered a threat from the Millefiore Company, to win back favor from the public.

Vongola Corporations had always been known for their "instinct" in finding people's talents. That is, they always seemed to be the first ones to find the best talents. It went without saying that Vongola Corporations was truly a fearsome company.

Sighing a bit, he straightened his clothes, took a deep breath, and then stepped through the glass sliding doors of the company.

This was going to be a long day.

.xTsuna.x

The building had a very modern feel to it, with shining blue-silver steel beams and large, slightly black-stained windows. Tsuna walked to the front desk, in awe of his surroundings.

"Excuse me," he said, "Where can I find The Guardians?"

"Oh, you must be one of the candidates…" The woman behind the desk finished typing up something, then looked up at Tsuna. There was silence for a few minutes before she squealed, jumping up and grabbing Tsuna, hugging him tightly.

"Kya! You're so cute!" The woman's kindly brown eyes twinkled as she stretched Tsuna's face to unimaginable proportions.

"Ugh…you're hurting me…" Tsuna managed to blurt out after a few minutes.

"Let him go, Oregano." A burly man dressed smartly in a black suit came toward them with an amused look in his eyes.

"Demo, demo, look at him!" Oregano gushed. "Isn't he?" Oregano's black, thickly, framed glasses flashed in a threatening manner.

The man waved his arms about and replied, "Yes, yes." He sighed. "But he still has to get-"

"UWAH!" The woman suddenly jumped up, jumped over the front desk and grabbed Tsuna by the arm.

"I have to show him the way so take my place for awhile, okay?" She asked.

"Wait!" By then Oregano was dragging Tsuna up the stairs after deeming the elevators too slow.

Meanwhile, the poor man sighed. "Nevermind."

X.X.X.X.X

Tsuna marveled at how, wherever they went, everyone was doing something, rushing about with huge piles of paper, boxes stacked full of supplies, and other such things. It seemed like the people here were always very busy and hassled, but what Tsuna was amazed at was the fact that, despite the difficulty of their work, everyone had traces of smiles painted on their faces. Tsuna had enough experience in other jobs to know that usually, under such conditions, the people would have been grumbling under their breaths and complaining. However, these people seemed to be used to the seemingly endless work supply and were still enjoying their jobs to their hearts' content.

Quietly, Tsuna wondered if part of the reason for the success of the government was the dedication and loyalty of the employees.

"Ah," Oregano said, "Here it is." She pointed to a rather bland white door, where a small golden tag read, "The Guardians".

"Good luck, cutie-pie." Oregano offered with a wink.

"Ah, arigatou." Now that Tsuna looked closer, he realized that Oregano actually looked pretty nice with her pinkish hair coiled into a loose bun. He blushed.

"Awww…so cute!!!" Oregano squealed. "Ganbatte! For my sake!" Just imagining what it would be like getting to see that cute face every day, Oregano sighed dreamily.

Tsuna laughed uneasily. Normally, or, at least for the girls in his life, they would have killed to have this job. Apparently because every day they would be able to see celebrities walk past.

Oregano sighed. "I mean seriously. At first it was awesome seeing hot men strut by daily, but that gets OLD you know…a cutie is so rare! And you're the cutest ever!"

Oregano reached to hug Tsuna again but then stopped herself. "Gah! I'm sorry for holding you captive!"

"It's okay." Tsuna smiled, and it really was. To get ready for this whole thing, and just in case, he had left one hour earlier than he had had to, to get there on time.

Oregano smiled at Tsuna's determined look.

_Maybe…just maybe he's the right one for them…_

"Good luck, Tsuna-chan." Oregano said with a soft smile.

"Ah, thanks." Tsuna waved as Oregano walked down the hall and vanished down the stairs.

It wasn't until his hand was on the doorknob that he realized that he'd never given Oregano his name. He jerked around, and was about to chase Oregano back down the stairs to ask her about how she knew his name, but shook the thought from his mind.

He could always see Oregano and ask her again, but this was an once-in-a-lifetime chance. He couldn't afford to go chase after Oregano.

Sighing, he turned and opened the door.

x.PoorTsuna.x

"Finally decided to show yourself, huh?" Mukuro asked, smirking at Tsuna.

The band members were randomly splayed about the room, and Yamamoto, the friendliest, and less scary of the bunch, raised an arm in greeting.

"Yo."

Ryohei looked up from shadow-boxing in the corner and grinned toothily at Tsuna, giving him thumbs up.

"GOOD MORNING TO THE EXTREME! IT'S ANOTHER BRIGHT M ORNING TO EXPRESS OUR –"

Gokudera threw something at Ryohei's head. "Shut up! You're too goddamn loud in the morning."

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?! YOU STUPID OCTOPUS HEAD!"

Gokudera's temple throbbed. "I SAID SHUT UP YOU RETARDED TUFT-HEAD!"

"THIS IS AN EXTREME HAIRSTYLE!"

Gokudera opened his mouth to retaliate, but then Hibari, who had been resting with an open book over his face on the couch, intercepted the argument.

"You herbivores better shut up before I bite you to death." He said sharply, raising his tonfas in a threatening manner, slowly sitting up.

Gokudera grit his teeth, but remained silently, turning back to face the wall and resuming a smoking session.

Spotting Tsuna's rather petrified expression, Lambo clamped a hand down on Tsuna's shoulder.

"Don't worry. This is normal." Lambo smiled at Tsuna reassuringly. "You'd get used to this, I'm sure."

Tsuna grew teary eyed at Lambo's subtle encouragement. "Lambo-san…"

"Well, good luck."

Lambo then said to Ryohei, "Oi, we better get going."

"Heh?! You're leaving?!"

"Yeah!" Ryohei said. "I have a competition to get to!"

"I have to go on a talk show today." Lambo smiled apologetically, one eye shut in a permanent wink. "But these guys have a photo shoot."

"Good luck, Sawada!" Ryohei whispered to Tsuna in his raspy voice before darting out the door.

Tsuna felt like crying when the only two other nice people in the band left. He was at a disadvantage here now! Three people who hated him against one person who at least tolerated him?! Oh woe.

X.X.X.X

"OI! LAMBO!" Ryohei called as they took the elevator (which was surprisingly empty) down to the lobby.

"Yeah?"

"What do you think of Sawada?"

"Hmm…" Lambo paused. "He didn't seem like bad person…" he said slowly, "So his answer to Mukuro's question last night surprised me, but…"

"At least he was truthful?" Ryohei added helpfully.

"Yeah, I guess. Besides, my younger brother seemed to know and like him when I mentioned him this morning."

"Your little brother?! That obnoxious brat that is always dressed in that cow outfit?!"

"He's my brother you know." Lambo said.

"HAHAHA! RIGHT! SORRY!"

"But yes, him. To get my brother to like him…He has to be an extremely good person."

"That's true. My sister seemed to know him too. She seemed to like him a lot too."

"She likes everyone."

"Yeah, but when she was talking about him yesterday, she laughed more than she ever does when talking about someone she knows."

Ryohei thought for a minute.

"Well, she was laughing when she was telling me about those weird things that Sawada did during middle school together, but still."

Lambo nodded in understanding. The elevator opened with a "ding!" and the pair walked out into the sunshine. The two stood in silence on the sidewalk before Ryohei asked, "…Do you think he's going to be alright?"

Lambo sighed. "Who knows, what with Gokudera's temper, Mukuro's mood swings, and Hibari's…well, you know."

"EXTREME STRENGTH!"

Lambo looked at Ryohei dubiously. "I guess you could put it that way…"

Lambo sighed and leaned against a telephone pole.

"If he can win those three over, then he's set as our new manager. It's usually them that drive our managers away."

A moment of silence passed. "You know something really weird? When I mentioned that Sawada was going to be trying out for our manager, my little brother grinned and said that when he became a manager, I should ask him to come over to our house. He seemed so sure he would become the manager, even though he knows the fate of all our managers."

"HEH!? YOU TOO?! KYOUKO LAUGHED AND SAID SOMETHING LIKE THAT TOO!"

"Gah!" Lambo rubbed his head as if to ward off a headache.

"I'm going to stop thinking." As if on cue, he spotted his limo waiting for him.

"Ah. I have to go now."

"THERE'S MY DRIVER! I MUST FIGHT TO THE EXTREME!"

With that, the two parted, thoughts of the outcome of today immediately gone from their minds.

X.X.X.X.X

"Alright," Mukuro said, lounging back in a cushioned chair.

"The photo shoot takes place in this building in Room 6W16." He flicked something imaginary from the air and continued, "By noon, we must have our lunch. As the manager, you wouldn't want your charges fainting due to lack of food, would you?"

"Also, I must warn you, we have high tastes in food."

Mukuro flicked something shiny at Tsuna, and he fumbled to catch it. When he did manage to grasp the object he blinked at it.

Gokudera was ticked off. "What do you think that's for, you moron? Use the damn credit card to buy the food for us!"

"Ah. Um, okay." Tsuna said awkwardly.

"I want bouillon, black coffee with packets of sugar and vanilla cream, and focaccia bread. They MUST come from La Casa de Moribundo."

Gokudera sneered at him. "Apparently, as you come from such a low class, I can't expect you to know where that is, so it is located on West Minister Avenue, Uchida Street- the door number's 6927."

With that, Gokudera spun around in his seat, facing the wall again, and smirked.

_There is no way in hell he'd be able to remember all that._

"I want curry over rice from "Tahji", chow mien, fried rice with shrimp and eggs, fried dumplings, or more accurately, wao teep, barbecued spare ribs poured all over with black sauce, from "Gyoza", as well as sushi from "The Sushi Bar"- twelve of each kind of sushi there is- and I also want strawberry cheesecake from "Paladin" and currants dribbled all over with custard sauce, peppermint sauce, and decorated with mint leaves-for dessert of course."

"Okay."

Mukuro made a small, annoyed sound when Tsuna didn't look affected at all.

"I want miso soup." Requested Hibari concisely, "I don't care where it's from but it must be warm and delicious. One rice box with beef and broccoli is enough."

"Haha, sorry to trouble you," Yamamoto said, "But premium salad from the restaurant five blocks away from here and a bottle of water would be nice."

"Alright, anything else?"

"That would be all, thank you."

"Then, I'll be leaving now."

Tsuna backed out of the room and ran for the elevator, looking at the clock, and realized with a shock that he only had two and a half hours (as he was early) to get everything and come back. Of course, he was used to having to deliver a multitude of meals when working at "Gyoza" in a short amount of time, and had a knack for memorizing orders now, but that wasn't the problem now. That is, by the time he got back, it would be rush hour, with working people going for lunch breaks and parents picking up their children from day care.

He slipped into the elevator, just as it was closing, and apologized to the people in the elevator.

Slipping a notepad out of the back of his pocket, he quickly scrawled down what he remembered onto the piece of paper.

Deciding that he would get Hibari's meal last, as to keep the miso soup warm, he ran out the company and called for a taxi. Thankfully, as it was almost the start of rush hour, there were many taxis about, and he managed to snag one almost immediately.

Feeling that if he took stops along the way, one by one, it would take too long, he decided to go to La Casa de Moribundo first, as it was the farthest away. That is, it was the only one of the places he had to go to, other than Tahji that was out of the local area.

"I would like to go to La Casa de Moribundo first please."

At the taxi driver's blank look, he laughed, and recited the exact address flawlessly.

"Do you know where it is?" Tsuna inquired.

"Ah. I know a fast way too- by highway."

"Oh, thanks."

As the driver started the car, he asked, "That's a high class place you're going to. No offense, but you seem like one of us," the friendly car driver said. "I saw you come out of that company before- are you the errand boy of some famous person or something?"

"No, not yet, but I hope to be."

"Who are you managing?"

"The Guardians, you know, the band."

"Ah, of course I know! That band is so popular that even old geezers like me know about them." The man laughed at himself good-naturedly. "My daughter's a major fan of the band."

The driver paused, hesitating, then asked, "That place is pretty far away- are you sure you don't want to go to some place closer first? I mean, you have to more than one order, right? I'll wait for you to come back out, no worries."

"Yeah, but I have a feeling, with rush hour and everything…."

"Oh, I see."

The two started to go on the highway, and the man suddenly laughed boisterously.

"Man, you have one hell of an intuition."

Tsuna looked out and indeed, traffic was already starting to form on one of the streets.

Tsuna giggled. "I'm glad."

"When do you have to get back?"

"By noon."

"By noon?!" The man looked angry. "Who do they think they are, rushing you so? How many orders did they give you anyway?"

"Not many…" Tsuna said.

"Really." The driver said, doubting Tsuna's words.

"Well, whatever. The time is enough to make my head spin."

"HOLD ON TIGHT!" The taxi driver roared.

"Wait, wh-AAAAAAAAAAATTTTTT?!"

The car speeded down the high way, appearing to outsiders as a faint yellow blur, swerving as it cut in front of cars and sped past them.

Soon, they were in front of the stop sign, going locally to the restaurant.

"Show me the orders." The driver held out a hand expectantly, acting much like a worried parent.

Tsuna, too shaken to object and gripping onto his seat for dear life gave it to him.

The poor boy, therefore, almost had a heart attack when the man let out an inhuman howl.

"YOU CALL THIS LITTLE?! WHY, I DON'T CARE IF THEY CONTROL THE WORLD! HOW DARE THEY PICK ON YOU LIKE THIS?"

Shakily, Tsuna managed to place a calm hand on the man's shoulder.

"It's okay," Tsuna said with a smile, "I'm already used to this, and besides," Tsuna's eyes took on a rather glassy look, "If I can pass this trial, I'd feel like someone as unworthy as me actually deserves the job."

The man sighed and placed a hand on Tsuna's soft brown hair, ruffling it.

"You're a good kid." The taxi driver said, "And that's why….I'LL HELP YOU WITH MY DYING WILL!"

"HA-HIIIIIII!!!!" Tsuna screamed as the car revved up and charged down the road.

The car suddenly screeched to a halt in front of the restaurant and the driver turned to Tsuna, eyes burning fiercely.

"I shall wait for you here, okay?"

"Thank you!" Tsuna quickly exited the car and rushed into the fancy restaurant.

It was certainly a very high-class restaurant, with shiny mahogany tables, covered with silky cloths of every color. Set on the tables were crystal glasses that sparkled even in the dim light. Expensive brands of wine were placed on the revolving, glass centerpieces on each table. To a huge cabinet on the far wall made of dark wood, the frames of the cabinet held square pieces of glass. There was a stair case to the right and left of the entrance that led up to a higher level. The banisters were made to look like curving vines, and at some crucial points of the banister, delicate, detailed flowers were carved. The walls and stairs of the restaurant were made of smooth, gray marble, and all in all, the restaurant had a very modern feel to it.

Despite the grandeur, however, the receptionist's desk was quite small. Unfortunately for Tsuna, he was too rushed to even take time to admire his surroundings.

"Excuse me," he asked the blonde woman behind the desk, "I would like to request take-out orders."

"Oh, I'm sorry." The lady replied, "We don't allow people to take our food outside of the restaurant. Policies, you understand."

"Heh?! But that can't be! I was asked by Gokudera-san to come here!"

The woman's blue eyes shimmered sadly at the mention of the name.

"Oh, you must be the new manager candidate, then." She stated sadly.

"Eh?" Tsuna blinked. "How'd you know?"

The woman just sighed. "I'm truly, terribly sorry, but you just have to go to another restaurant. There's another restaurant down the street that sells the same stuff we do…though it tastes different on account of the recipes…"

"No."

"Heh?"

"Gokudera-kun requested the food from your shop, I can't just cheat him like that. It's not right!" Tsuna replied, sincerity in his expression.

The woman's eyes widened. Of all the people who had come in before for Gokudera's orders…this was a first. Everyone so far had just gone to the other restaurant.

"I'm truly sorry, but…"

"I understand," Tsuna said, "And I truly do not wish to complicate your job, but is there any way that I could use your kitchen to make it myself? With a recipe of course."

The woman blinked, then grinned. There had been nothing in Gokudera-sama's orders stating that the candidate could not make the food by themselves- it only stated that they refuse to give the candidate their take-out and to make sure the chefs don't make the food for them.

"We don't have much business, currently, so I'm sure the chefs would love to help."

She quickly led him to the kitchen, where the chefs were discussing the poor fate of the candidate, and how they always felt so guilty for not helping in any way.

As soon as she slammed open the door, however, they shut up and gazed in surprise at the small boy beside her.

"Listen up!" She commanded, and explained the situation to the chefs. Slowly, their faces alighted. It was a chance to make up their amends for their inability to help in the past.

"Come! What do you wish to make?"

Tsuna told them.

"If it won't trouble you, would it be possible for you to give me all three recipes? I can do the rest, but sometimes I might need help but…"

"We don't make written recipes, as it is passed down by mouth but, you can start preparing the materials while we write the procedures down."

"It's okay. Can someone tell me the recipe for the focaccia by mouth while the others write?"

"Are you sure?" The chefs murmured worriedly.

"Yes." Tsuna said as he took an offered white apron.

"Okay then."

A man with black hair and a Mr. Pringles mustache stepped forward, while another chef, who looked startlingly similar, went to a small corner with pen and paper and started scribbling on it.

"Alright, for the bread, we need two and three quarter cups of all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon of salt, 1 teaspoon of white sugar, 1 tablespoon of active dry yeast, 1 teaspoon of garlic powder, 1 teaspoon of dried oregano, 1 teaspoon of dried thyme, half a teaspoon of dried basil, 1 pinch of ground black pepper, 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil, 1 cup of water, 2 tablespoons of olive oil, 1 tablespoon of grated Parmesan cheese, and 1 cup of mozzarella."

"Did you get that?" The chef asked, only to look on with amazement as Tsuna zipped around the room, finding materials at the first try and measuring them accurately. This took at most, three minutes.

"Yes?"

"Ah!" The chef said, snapping out of his trance.

"First, in a large bowl, stir together the flour, salt, sugar, yeast, garlic powder, oregano, thyme, basil and black pepper. Mix in the vegetable oil and water. Next, when the dough has pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead until smooth and elastic. Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl, and turn to coat with oil. Cover with a damp cloth, and let rise in a warm place for 20 minutes. Then, preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). Punch dough down; place on greased baking sheet. Pat into a 1/2 inch thick rectangle. Brush top with olive oil. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and mozzarella cheese. Finally, bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes, or until golden brown."

Tsuna managed to cover the dough with the damp cloth in 5 minutes, and by then, the other chef was done with the bouillon recipe.

"Okay, what do I need now?"

The other chef than proceeded to instruct him, and in about an hour, he was done. He had set the coffee maker on after he had finished preparing the bouillon, and while he poured the coffee carefully into a Styrofoam cup with a strong cap, the other staff were helping him pack the other goods tightly into a large paper bag, after learning about the crazy road driver waiting outside for Tsuna.

"Thank you!" he called back as he left, "Oh! Do I need to pay for this?"

"We'll trust you! Come back later and we'll fix the cost!"

Tsuna, reassured, left the room and jumped into the taxi.

"For the sake of time, I'm not even going to ask why you took so long."

"Where's the next stop?"

"Tahji please!"

"HOLD ON!"

Tsuna's scream echoed around in that neighborhood for a quite a few minutes.

X.mUkUrO.X

Thankfully, everything else went smoothly in Tahji and Gyoza, though Tsuna felt bad for leaving as soon as he got the food though, but during those short five minutes, during which the food was prepared, he had told about his "adventures" and the reason for his sudden appearance.

However, when he went to the Paladin….

"I'm sorry!" The receptionist said to Tsuna, we're jam-packed! You'd have to wait 40 minutes!"

The trips before had taken half an hour, after all.

Tsuna winced. He didn't have that much time. "Then, do you have a spare kitchen I could make the currants and cheesecake in?"

"Ah, yes! I'm terribly sorry for this…we'll let you go for this for free even if you never come back…"

"Ah, it's okay, don't worry. I definitely will."

He was ushered into a small kitchen that had the same theme as the rest of the shop. Quickly preparing the ingredients needed, he set to work.

The Paladin was a quaint little café in a quaint little neighborhood. He small café was obviously designed for girls, with the majority of the small shop being pink and lavender, and extremely into cute animals and frilly laces. Let's just leave it at that before the loyal fans are forever scarred by the fact that Mukuro, of all people, regularly frequents the shop.

As Tsuna had always known that Haru favored pastries above all else, it was no surprise that his specialty in cooking was for pastries- Tsuna might not have a lot of friends, but to those he had, he was fiercely loyal and would do almost anything for them. That was why Haru always found a new type of cake on her desk on her birthday. Surprisingly though, despite her intelligence, she never did find out where her cakes came from…

Nevertheless, it was this expertise that allowed him to finish the deserts in 30 minutes, more or less.

After wrapping up the deserts in two pink boxes tied shut by silky purple ribbons, he burst out of the shop.

There were only thirty minutes left.

X.X.X.X.X

Tsuna thanked all the gods in the world for making it so that they managed to get to the final destination in a few minutes. His relief was soon crushed however, when, "Oh? You're the new candidate?"

Two girls sneered at Tsuna over the countertop, bright red mouths curled in a twisted sneer.

"Ano, I'm sort of in a hurry…"

Both girls tapped their ridiculously long, manicured nails on the surface of the countertop.

_Click-clack, click-clack, click-clack_

"We were about to give the salad to you…but since you were so rude…why don't you make it yourself?"

They lowered their eye-shadowed eyelids at him.

"B-but!"

"B-but!" They mocked him.

Tsuna could feel the pressure and the unfairness of it all get to him, but he quickly wiped the tears from his eyes before they could fall. Standing here protesting would just waste time, he decided, so he stood tall, and replied, "Okay."

He brushed pass them and started making the salad with amazing speed, and the customers at the tables in the shop gaped in awe as he sped left and right, making a salad and miso soup at the same time. (The cooking area was the type that was just behind the counter. It was constructed in a similar fashion to American cafeterias.)

After twenty minutes, he was done.

Stunned, the girls gave him a discount as he had to cook for himself, and only charged him for the ingredients used.

As soon as he swiped the card, he was off again, running. He jumped into the taxi, and they were off again. However, this time, luck was not on his side.

"How long is this going to take?" The driver growled as he honked and shouted rude words.

Tsuna bit his lip. "Thank you for driving me this far, but I think I'm going to run now…it's only two blocks away now."

"But with that much stuff?"

"I'll survive." Tsuna said, smiling weakly.

_I hope._

"Well, off you go! I'll collect the cash at the front of the company." The taxi driver winked at him, and Tsuna nearly burst into tears at the kindness.

But he gritted his teeth and grabbing all the bags, jumped out of the car and started to run.

Unfortunately, even nature seemed to be against him today, and a downpour started. He was soaked in a matter of seconds.

Struggling to keep the bags dry, for fear of the food getting cold, he took a second to shrug off his jacket to wrap around the bags, leaving him in only his black T-shirt and pants.

He was off again. The blocks seemed like they stretched for miles and Tsuna kept stumbling in an awkward run, both trying to keep the food dry and to get to the studio in time.

Tsuna gasped in happiness as he reached the end of the block, struggling for breath, but lost it all again when he glanced at the watch on his wrist.

Six minutes left.

As soon as the walking sign changed, he burst past people, dodging and weaving among the crowds going to lunch. He was almost at the end of the block when he tripped, but glancing at the bags, he stopped himself just in time.

However, a sudden pain jolted up his leg as a consequence.

He'd sprained his ankle.

Letting out a pained yelp, he quickly crossed the street, ignoring the massive pain his movements brought him.

Running through the sliding doors, he pressed the elevator button, but after glancing at his clock, he realized there were only three minutes left.

Despite knowing that he was hard-pressed for time, he just had to stare in horror at the stairs for a few moments. The Guardians were located on the sixth floor. But with his condition…

Looking down at his leg, he took a deep breath and started to walk up the stairs.

By the time he got to the sixth floor he felt like crawling already.

"I swear," he thought, "After this, I look forward to hell…"

For a minute, he almost felt like giving up, staring at the long, long hallway. He was dizzy, he realized, the corners of his vision were going fuzzy, the pain was so great that it was sort of numb to him now, and he felt like fainting.

_Just a few minutes…just a few minutes…_

And then he was running through the hallway to The Guardians, remembering how Haru-chan had seemed so delighted just from hearing that'd he gotten the job, no matter how fake it was, and he remembered how he had promised that he'd try his best this time, how he wouldn't ever, _ever_ break a promise to his friends because that was the only thing going for him…

But most vividly, he remembered Scary-kun, asking him to prove himself, and Tsuna felt the corners of his vision turning black now, and he thought, "Please_, please_ I cannot disappoint and betray someone's expectations again, so body, just hold on a little bit longer," and then, "Oh god, I can't even think straight anymore, I'm going _insane _from this _pain_…I'm talking to my _body_, for god's sake…"

_But I want to prove, for once in my life, myself worthy…so please body, don't fail me now…_

And then he was in front of the door, and almost fainting from relief but he promised himself.

_Almost there, almost done…_

He gathered his wits about him and opened the door after unwrapping his jacket from the bags and throwing it outside, to the left of the doorway, not wanting them to see how hard for him it was to just get them lunch.

"I'm back…"

"Finally…" Gokudera scoffed.

"Haha," Tsuna laughed sheepishly, "I'm sorry…"

"Just hand it over…"

Tsuna did as told, trying to make it so that the limp on his leg was as inconspicuous as possible.

He had just given the last meal, Hibari's meal, when he suddenly caught Mukuro and Hibari staring at him with hard, cool, calculating stares.

Averting his eyes, scared of being found out, he asked, "Is that all?"

"…Yes." Mukuro said, still scrutinizing Tsuna.

"Then, I'll leave…"

"Obviously." Gokudera said, starting to lift his food out of the bags.

Tsuna turned and walked out the door.

_See? I'm finally done._

Tsuna only made it halfway down the hall before he collapsed, welcoming the comforting darkness that was slowly encompassing him, shielding him from the now unbearable pain in his ankle.

_Thank you._

And then he was out.

X.x.x.Xx.

Mukuro was staring at his bags of food, as was Hibari.

Something wasn't right…

And as soon as the thunder sounded, he realized why.

Tsuna hadn't been carrying an umbrella when he went in this morning, his jacket was seemingly gone, the black shirt and pants could have hidden how soaked he was, he was walking with a slight limp, and for some reason, though it was positively raining cats and dogs outside, for some magical reason, their bags of food weren't wet at all.

Mukuro suddenly slammed his hands on the desk in front of him.

_There's absolutely no way he did what I think he did…what human would put food and the happiness of others before __himself__Simply impossible._

Mukuro curled his hands into fists.

_He couldn't have…_

Hibari rose as well, apparently coming to the same conclusion as him.

"That _idiot_!" he snarled and rushed out of the room, just as resounding cries of, "Are you alright?" echoed from the hallway.

Mukuro rushed out immediately after, only to find one Sawada Tsunayoshi curled into a fetal position in the middle of the hall.

In three brisk strides, he was by Tsuna and rolled him over so he was lying completely on his back, and discovered that Tsuna was so soaked, he had already made a small puddle on the floor. Having previous experience in the medical field, he checked Tsuna's body until he spotted a flash of purple beneath one pants leg.

He heard Hibari take suck in a breath at the sight of the swelling of Tsuna's ankle. Never in his life had he seen such a twisted ankle. The whole area around the ankle was a sickly, rich purple, and Mukuro wasn't surprised anymore that the boy had fainted.

Hell, he was surprised he hadn't fainted in the room, with such an injury!

What surprised him the most however, was the fact that Tsuna was smiling in his unconscious state, despite the obvious pain that the twisted ankle was causing.

_I did it, __Haru-chan__…_

_I did it…_

_Scary-kun._

-----

Explanatory Notes:

I tried a new writing style to try to express Tsuna's franticness and worry…I hope I did alright…

I'm so sorry for the late update! I seem to be apologizing a lot…hehe…I'm so proud of myself! I wrote 20 pages on Microsoft Word for this chapter! It's awesome!

To those who are interested, the recipe for the bread is real!

By the way, Facoccia bread is flat, oven-baked Italian bread and can be topped with herbs, onions, and other such things. You know the bread that pizza is made out of? People who like the crust of pizzas would love this bread, haha…

I tried using peanut butter for the recipe and it was surprisingly yummy. This is shameless advertisement.

Bouillon is basically a French cuisine, a broth. It is usually made through simmering aromatic herbs, like bouquet gami, and mirepoix, or things like onions, carrots, and celery. Usually thrown into this mix are beef, veal (meat of young, male calves), and poultry bones in boiling water.

Sounds yummy, doesn't it?

IMPORTANT NOTE: By the 30th of this January, I will seize all writing as I will be going back to school, so don't be alarmed when I disappear off the face of the Earth until I come back in the last week of February.


	5. The Beginning to Change

While writing the last chapter I had just finished browsing through awesome 6927 fan art so…mwahahahaha…

I almost died from happiness when I saw the reviews. Thank you reviewers all!

I just realized I haven't done het pairings in so long that it's probably going be weird for me…at first.

For any TsunaxHaru fans…I'm terribly sorry. This will contain shounen-ai…I was converted. Those two are really close in a brotherly sisterly sort of way, so if you'd like to see that as something more, feel free to. I hope you'll keep reading though.

Plot Bunny: Don't-she just wants to convert you.

MY EVIL PLAN!!!!!

Pairings: Side pairings are LamboxI-pin so far and YamaGoku. I like homemade tuna sandwiches

They are very yummy, unlike evil cafeteria ones…guess which main pairing is winning. Come on, guess.

Disclaimer: Amano Akira….owns all the characters used…and my utter devotion.

XxXXxxXx

Chapter Five: The Beginning to Change

Sighing, Mukuro lifted Tsuna up bridal style, causing the girls at the scene to suddenly fall of their feet and swoon at the utter cuteness of the scene.

At Hibari's raised eyebrow, "It is partly my responsibility-nothing more."

As his room for The Six Paths was on that floor, he started to go toward it. The rest of the band had come out by then to see what the commotion of the hallway was about, and started to follow him to the other waiting room, but someone stopped them.

"It's time for your photo shoot," the woman said softly.

She glanced down at the boy in Mukuro's arms.

"You may put him to rest in the other room, but you must come back immediately. Understood?"

The three other band members with Mukuro glanced at the sleeping boy in his arms and then stalked after the woman.

Mukuro sighed, and went to the east wing of the floor.

It was fairly hard to not shift Tsuna a bit as he tried to open the door to the waiting room and ended up leaning Tsuna against the door of the room, and then looming over him to open the door with the keys he had.

As soon as the door eased open, Mukuro clicked on the lights, sending soft blue lights dancing in the room, and carefully put Tsuna onto the velvety couch.

Going to the small fridge in a corner of the rather grand room, he took out an ice bag and then looked in the drawers for bandages, which he found fairly quickly.

The other two members of the Three Paths often got into scuffles with each other a lot, so a first aid kit and things of that sort were always at hand.

Approaching the unconscious boy, he put the pristine, rolled up bandages and the ice pack on the floor, and then examined the boy's ankle. Expertly, he twisted the ankle back to its original place in such a way that the most minimal amount of pain resulted.

Still, Tsuna let out a pained cry, but then fell back into his unconscious state a moment later. It wasn't such a big surprise, when looking at how severe the injury was.

Mukuro was surprised that he hadn't fainted as soon as he entered their changing rooms.

After checking that the ankle was twisted back into its original place, he placed the ice pack carefully against the discolored flesh surrounded in the ankle, then wrapped the white bandages around the ice pack, securing its position.

Done, he shuffled about the room, putting everything back in their respective places. Then, Mukuro briskly strode to the door. His hand was hovering above the golden door knob of the room when he abruptly turned, snatched a fluffy dark blue blanket lying over his leather swerving chair and covered the shivering Tsuna with it.

"This," he said to the sleeping Tsuna, as if reassuring himself more than the unconscious boy. "This doesn't mean anything."

Annoyed at his unexplainable, sudden urge to protect the frail-looking boy on the couch, he grumbled a bit before leaving the room.

Passing a rather finicky looking boy with muddy, orange tinted hair, and librarian-styled glasses shielding brown eyes, Mukuro stopped him and asked, "Excuse me, would you please go to The Six Paths' changing room for me? There's a boy in there, and he's thoroughly soaked, so if it wouldn't be too much trouble, can you change him into drier clothes?"

Mukuro glanced at the name tag on the boy's primly pressed brown suit. "…Irie-kun?"

The boy spluttered and looked suspiciously guilty, as his eyes kept darting back and forth, avoiding Mukuro's eyes.

"You know where that is right?"

"A-ah!" The boy snapped up to attention suddenly, becoming rigid in form and nodding stiffly.

"I'm on my lunch break and I'm not busy so it's no trouble at all." The man managed to bring a weak smile upon his face- it was a crooked one at best though.

"Thank you very much, Irie-kun."

With that, Mukuro swept away from the boy gracefully, going in the opposite direction of the boy.

He was in a hurry currently, and missing this photo-shoot was going to be detrimental for The Guardians, as their pictures were to be featured in the famous and popular magazine, Arrivederci. (Arrivederci was a magazine that targeted every age group- there were pictures, articles, and games in the front that targeted children, and they even issued some mangaEven an idiot would know that if they were featured in such a magazine, their popularity would sky-rocket even higher. That was the only reason why he didn't bully that Irie-kun further despite his more-nervous-than-normal gesticulations when speaking to him- that and the fact that he wasn't a particularly nice human being.

Still, Mukuro made sure to remember that name- after all, it might come in handy later.

"Shouichi Irie-kun, huh?"

X.X.X.X.X

Generally, the photo shoot was a success. Gokudera had managed to somehow almost blow up the entire studio, but was thankfully stopped by Yamamoto. To this day, many are unsure as to where the silver-haired man hid that unbelievable amount of dynamite on his body- however, to those who knew his background, this wasn't such a strange quirk- he had belonged to a circus of martial artists before entering the "show biz" anyhow. These events were normal for the band anyway, so it all in all, was like any other day.

Mukuro really wished that the girls would stop bleeding from their noses every time one of them posed on the set though. I mean, really.

The band was now sitting around a table in the cafeteria, opening up the lunch that Tsuna had gotten to them before. In the end, with the fiasco that followed, they didn't have time to eat it after all.

Lambo and Ryohei had left again, today being a busy day for them.

Now, the four of them eyed their lunches warily- or rather, the three of them.

Yamamoto was already digging through his bag and popping open the lid of his salad.

Unwrapping a plastic fork from its napkin cocoon, Yamamoto stabbed several tomatoes and lettuce pieces then unhesitatingly took a bite while Gokudera watched with widened forest green eyes, as if expecting Yamamoto to drop down in one second from food poisoning or something.

Fortunately for Yamamoto, Gokudera's prediction did not come true.

Yamamoto let out a sound of surprise.

"Their salads got better!" Yamamoto paused. "I wonder if they got a new chef or something."

Hibari, too, was sipping at his miso soup, obviously content.

"Hn. Still warm."

Mukuro searched through his bag.

"Oya? I'm surprised. He managed to get everything."

Gokudera looked with a rather pained look at his food then quickly brought his bouillon out, grabbed a plastic spoon and shoveled a bite into his mouth.

"So?" Yamamoto said teasingly, bending his head down but turning his eyes up to look up into Gokudera's downturned face.

"It's not like the normal food there." He said, refusing to elaborate further.

"Oh? I'm surprised then- why are you still eating it? Normally you just get angry and throw out the food that wasn't from La Casa de Moribundo."

"I-I'm just really hungry, that's all. So I'll have to bear with eating this crap."

"Hoh? You do realize we're in a cafeteria, don't you?" Mukuro asked, amused, as he twisted his chow mien with his plastic fork.

"I-I forgot my wallet, that's all!"

Mukuro raised an eyebrow at Gokudera, looking pointedly at the top of his wallet, which was poking out of Gokudera's breast pocket.

"I just forgot I had my wallet!" Gokudera explained, getting increasingly flustered now.

Mukuro leaned forward a bit, interlocking his slender fingers together and rested his chin on them, a sly smile gracing his lips.

"Don't get away from the subject, Hayato-kun."

He laughed that eerie laugh of his.

"The truth is, it might not be from that restaurant, but it certainly tastes better, ne?"

"S-shut up!"

Yamamoto smiled discretely behind his bottle of water.

_Congratulations, __Tsuna_

X.X.X.X.X

Tsuna shifted nervously outside of the changing rooms for The Guardians. When he had woken up, he noticed that his clothes had been changed and a rather attractive woman was peering at him from above. Needless to say, he'd been undoubtedly embarrassed and scooted away from the woman as fast as he could.

After stumbling over the fridge, hitting the side of his hip against the various sharp corners of desks and tables, and after somersaulting a few times over the couch, the woman managed to calm him down enough to explain what was happening to him.

Though, Tsuna remembered, blushing, the woman had been wearing a rather amused smile all throughout her explanations.

"She probably thought I was such an idiot…" Tsuna thought, feeling distressed.

He never did get her name, but she _was_ very nice, and Tsuna appreciated that much, at least.

"The scar on her cheek must be very misleading to some I guess…" Tsuna thought, shifting indecisively in front of the door.

"Even though she looks so rough…" Tsuna made a thoughtful face. "Now that I think about it, I sort of feel bad for her."

She'd explained that The Guardians were waiting for him in their changing rooms, and that they wanted to talk to him about something important, after reassuring him that a man had given him the change of clothes and getting him to calm down.

Tsuna took a deep breath and wiped the sweat on his clammy hands on the stained white T-shirt and faded blue shorts he was wearing.

He smiled remembering how even that stranger had patted his shoulder in encouragement before leaving him to his task.

Before he could doubt himself again, he quickly twisted the doorknob and entered.

After all, this time…

_I'm not alone._

This time….

_I'm not alone anymore._

Tsuna smiled…

_I can do it._

…and entered the room.

X.X.X.X.X.X.X.X

"Don't get me wrong." Gokudera said, grumbling.

"We accept you, for now, because you managed to complete the task we have given you. That, however, does not mean that you have officially become our manager. After all, anyone can get food, you know- it's nothing special."

"Besides," Mukuro cut in, "A manager must be liked by all those he works with- don't you think?"

"That is why you are to spend a day with each of us and should you manage to earn our trust and should we accept you, then you may deem yourself our manager."

"Since we need to get to know you better, you are to move into our house by tomorrow. We already know where you live, so someone will come to pick you up tomorrow."

Gokudera ground his cigarette butt into the ashtray beside him.

"Tomorrow, I will be the one testing you. After you get settled into the house, we will have to go to some damn lecture that I have to give to snotty, elementary school kids."

Gokudera was obviously not very excited about this prospect, if his scowling face was anything to go by.

"Tomorrow, we will be the only ones at the house-everyone has something to do that day."

Gokudera let out a scary smile.

"I thought I should warn you that this means if you turn up dead somewhere, there will be no evidence and no witnesses."

Tsuna tried very, very hard not to let out a shrill, frightened, "HII!"

Yamamoto got up from his seat and walked over to Tsuna, ruffling his spiky hair.

"Maa, maa, Gokudera, don't scare the kid!"

Gokudera responded by chucking the ashtray at Yamamoto's head, which, as expected, Yamamoto caught gracefully before it made contact with his face.

"You'll be fine." Yamamoto said, turning back to Tsuna. "I'm sure of it."

"Yamamoto…" Tsuna could feel tears of gratitude start to gather around the corners of his eyes.

"Well, get a good night's sleep, Tsuna!"

Yamamoto paused. "It's alright if I call you that, right?"

Feeling rather giddy at his accomplishment, Tsuna let out those rare smiles of his, "We're friends, ne?"

Taken aback, Yamamoto couldn't say anything back until Tsuna backed away, and bowed.

"Now, if that's all, excuse me…See you tomorrow."

And then he was gone.

X.X.X.X.X.X

Tsuna smiled as he walked outside. It was already night, and the sky was pitch-black, stars dotting the blankness with their bright light.

Wind suddenly blew by, as if caressing Tsuna tenderly, carrying with it a smell of pine and dewy grass. Breathing in deeply the fresh air, he sighed.

Walking under the soft lamplight of the street, he waited, a solitary figure in the dark, for the lights to turn.

Now that he looked about in the night, he realized that everything was still the same as it was since he was very little- nothing had changed.

The sky was still black at night, and the stars were still bright.

Nothing had changed yet, Tsuna knew, but just like how the traffic lights turned, he knew that today, he _had_ changed in some small way.

He realized that, perhaps, before, he was just stationary, just as the traffic lights before had commanded. Maybe, now, it was finally time for him to move, to change, to turn.

Changing traffic lights may not be able to make the world turn round, and it may not be able to make the sky blue at night, but this was a start to something more significant, he was sure, as in all small things.

Smiling, Tsuna took a step forward to something new.

He'd do his best tomorrow.

-----

Oh no. I'm terribly sorry about this rather short chapter, heh.

I also apologize for uber yuckiness on my part- apparently a long disappearance has made my writing a bit more terrible than per usual.

I wasn't that happy with this chapter, but I hope you'll look forward to the next one, which I shall name, probably, Moving in or Taming Gokudera.

But the most important thing is…YAY! THERE ARE MORE 6927 FICS NOW!!

The pineapple is happy he's got his tuna back now.


	6. Taming Gokudera

Hello, everyone! I apologize for my long absence, but now I am back once again! Muahahahaha!

I spent a whole day at the museum today, so needless to say I am full of inspiration…sort of…maybe?

O-one hundred and four reviews?! You people are so kind to me! I'm so happy I can cry! WAH! Don't worry though! Your wait will be rewarded! I swear I'll find one of my drabbles to post up for this…

Thank you so much for your support! –tear-

Disclaimer: I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn.

Warnings: CURSES! This is rated for Teens after all, heh. Blame Gokudera's potty mouth.

.TsUnA.

Chapter Six: Taming Gokudera

The next day, Tsuna awoke to chirping birds and gentle sunshine caressing his face. His curtains rustled lightly in the breeze before settling lightly back against the white windowsill.

It was a beautiful, quiet morning.

That, in itself was the reason why Tsuna was currently shivering in fear beneath the baby blue quilt he had pulled up to his quivering chin.

Unlike normal households, peace and quiet did not equate to something good-in Tsuna's abode, calm atmospheres were like a bad omen-so, needless to say, he was very afraid as of now.

It didn't help that when he woke up, he had heard I-pin and Haru clambering about outside in the kitchen and living room- no doubt helping him pack up for his big move into the den of a pack of ravenous wolves…who knew how to make good music. He sighed, placing a forearm over a pair of tired brown eyes. He seriously felt like he was a rabbit going in to live with wolves.

Tsuna felt a bit hurt. It wasn't that he liked to see his friends sad, but he was bit unsettled by the fact that his moving out of the house didn't affect them as much as it did him. It just felt like they couldn't wait to get him out of the house. It was as if this was a clear indication that they wouldn't miss him even if he was going to be gone for awhile from them.

Pursing his lips, he decided that, maybe, just maybe, he would sleep just a few more minutes.

In the sudden settling down of his thoughts, he noticed that the clinking and clacking of things outside his door had ceased, and he could make out his two friends chatting about something in the background.

Curiosity aroused, he slipped out of his bed quietly, maneuvering his way to his door with the minimum amount of noise. Placing his ears quickly against the cool wood of his door, he strained his ears and managed to hear muffled giggling.

"Kya! Can you believe that Tsuna actually got the job AND managed to get landed in their house?"

"I know!" Haru gushed. "Our Tsu-chan is growing up!"

I-pin giggled and made affirmative noises. "The next thing you know, he's going to get married to one of them!"

"Haru wouldn't be surprised, of course. That's because Haru has awesome psychic powers!" Haru said, matter-of-factly.

"I-pin couldn't agree more!" There was a pause. "He would look so pretty in a wedding dress, don't you think?"

"KYA! HARU'S BLUSHING JUST FROM THE IMAGE-DESU" Haru sighed dreamily. "I can't wait until Tsuna moves in and gets it going…."

At this point, Tsuna had ceased to listen to any more of his friends' talk.

"I- I think I'm going to go back to sleep now…" he thought to himself.

Yet, as Tsuna slipped beneath the covers of his bed, he couldn't help but smile just a little bit.

He _wasn't _unwanted after all.

x.Tsuna.x

At exactly eleven o' clock in the morning, Hayato Gokudera drove up in his shiny, black Mercedes Benz before Tsuna's residence with a moving truck following behind non-discreetly.

Thankfully, Tsuna was already done packing up all his belongings by then. It hadn't taken particularly long, considering he hardly had many things at all. His unsteady, usually meager income was the main cause of that. Of course, Haru had constantly offered to lend Tsuna some money to pamper himself once in a while, but while Tsuna was a failure, he was a righteous one, and would not borrow money unless it was absolutely necessary- say, for instance, if there was a life and death situation.

Haru had always thought that that was one of his more admirable traits.

Sighing, Tsuna had taken a duffel bag full of his clothes down the stoop of his house when Gokudera finally noticed his existence.

Tsuna wished he had been ignored.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING, YOU IDIOT?! LEAVE YOUR FUCKIN' THINGS HERE! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK I HIRED THESE MOVING BASTARDS FOR?!"

Gokudera inclined his head toward the buff men getting out of the truck behind him roughly.

"We gotta get going to the damn daycare soon any time now or we'll be late." Gokudera told him, much more calmly, after puffing on his cigarette like a madman for a minute.

He held the smoke in for a minute before letting it blow out slowly.

"Just leave your stuff and get into the damn car."

Gokudera slid gracefully into the driver's seat before slamming the door shut.

Tsuna felt a drop of sweat roll down his face in response to his nervousness. Gokudera was obviously not in a good mood today.

A burly man from the truck came and gently took the duffel bag from Tsuna, before patting him on the shoulder sympathetically. Tsuna looked up, eyes watering.

"Good luck, kid." The man said mournfully, as if expecting Tsuna to be as good as dead.

Tsuna took a deep breath and entered the car.

As soon as he had settled himself and put on his seatbelt, the car suddenly revved up and Gokudera stepped on the gas pedal-hard- without a warning at all.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!"

x.Tsuna.x

Fifteen minutes later found Tsuna in a stupor, eyes staring, dazed, straight ahead of him, with drool leaking out of the corners of his mouth.

He was so shocked, he didn't even register that the car had stopped.

Gokudera glanced to his side to look at Tsuna, and scoffed in disgust.

"Weakling." He muttered. Then, louder, "Get out you idiot, we're there."

When Tsuna continued to just sit there for a few minutes more, with no sign of recognition of what he had heard upon his face, Gokudera's last nerve snapped.

"GET OUT OF THE CAR YOU MORON!" Gokudera sent a kick flying at Tsuna's head after opening the two passengers' doors and he went flying through the car's interior onto the asphalt of the parking lot.

Throwing the cigarette in his mouth to the ground, he put it out with his brown leather shoes mercilessly.

"Let's get going." He simply said when Tsuna had recovered.

Tsuna shook his head. This was definitely NOT his day.

X.Tsuna.X

The day care was situated in a rather remote corner of Nanimori. This area was near what used to be called "Hyoukutsen" but for some reason, it had become largely isolated. Still, despite its less than 

respectable location, it was a relatively good day care. It wasn't, of course, due to the establishment's physical features. That is, the facilities were nothing spectacular. In fact, it barely passed the "average" standards. The building, for instance, was obviously old and decrepit, with peeling yellow paint, and the building was generally marred with cracks and other such flaws. Moss was growing upon the sides of the building, and grime covered the corners. The sign propped against the building read, "Sunshine Academy" in faded bright orange paint, and the last vestiges of what could have been a smiling sun and a rainbow were almost gone.

Still, ironically, it was one of the best day care centers in Nanimori. The reason was simple- despite it was hardly appealing, the employees there were very dedicated to their job- they genuinely cared for the children, and according to statistics, the children that spend most of their early childhood there usually become fine people with extremely good reputations. A s such, you would expect the day care center to use the large amounts of cash received in order to fill their own pockets and make the day care center more modern, but instead, the day care used the extra money to buy even more toys and such for the children, instead of focusing on how to make themselves appear more extravagant and well-off than the others. This selflessness proved to be a benefit for them in the end, as they won themselves prestigious customers with this.

Tsuna smiled wryly. Fate really had it coming for him. After all, of all the places that Gokudera could have had to visit today, it had to be the day care where he was once fired from.

He sighed. He could only hope that Miss Bianchi, the owner of the day care, would forgive his presence once again.

.X.Tsuna.X.

Bianchi tapped her red, manicured nails against the dull, rough surface of her ten year old desk, very much annoyed. She was currently observing one of her employees, who was having a lot of trouble dealing with the kids, as per usual. Bianchi sighed.

"That girl, Mizuki, might be pretty but she is totally not cut out for this job." She mused, removing the red lollipop from her mouth.

Dejected, she pursed her shiny, pink lips in a sour grimace. Letting out an aggravated sigh, she slammed her head down onto the space formed between her crossed arms and breathed out.

"Sawada…." She moaned. "Why did you leave?"

Granted, at first, Bianchi really didn't like Sawada Tsunayoshi. He was too weak, too whiny, too scrawny, and not the least bit cute at all, at least, Bianchi had thought, when compared to her. But, somehow, the brat had sneaked into her heart when she wasn't paying attention.

Perhaps it was the unprecedented devotion the boyish man had placed in managing the kids, or maybe it was maybe the endearing way he would always place a chocolate (sometimes in the form of a rabbit, a cat, or a rose- and one time there was even a dragon) on her desk, with a note that always encouraged 

her to confess to the man she was in love with, Reborn, once he had found out about it from his co-workers. Perhaps it was because of those little symbols of encouragement and kindness had been so rare in her life that it had affected her so much that she came to like him and depend on those little notes of "Ganbatte!" when Reborn had rejected her advances particularly cruelly. Maybe it was because Sawada had had this way of making you feel like he truly _understood_ you.

Sawada had been, Bianchi had reflected more than a few times, the only person who had ever openly expressed that he saw the image of Bianchi with the children, and loving them, as fitting. It had been a surprise, at first, to see that he was the only one who didn't hold an expression of surprise when she managed to get Limberly Dankins, the formerly most obnoxious kid of the bunch in the day care center, to shut up willingly, without any threats. When she had confronted him about it, he had merely smiled at her in that goddamn sweet way of his, and said, "What do you mean? Miss Bianchi had always been kind to the children."

And for the first time in her life, Bianchi felt as if her existence mattered. For, even her own family had thought that the day care center wouldn't fit her personality, merely basing their assumptions upon her punkish, gothic outer looks. They hadn't noticed the tender way she had always handled children- how, even though she had such a nasty temper toward adults, no child would leave her presence crying, how she would always tolerate their foolhardy games and annoying antics, despite how explosive her tantrums could be. But, finally, finally, someone had noticed, and at that moment, Bianchi had felt as if she were a queen.

Maybe that was the reason, too, that all the children, who so hungered for attention, liked Sawada so much, and even thought to be more docile and well-behaved for him, if only to see him be proud of them, to be happy.

Because when you were near Sawada, you always felt like you were a treasure, and that, no matter what happened, at least he could never abandon you.

"It was a nice feeling of security." Bianchi mused. Then, she smiled sadly. "If I hadn't fallen for Reborn first, I would have fallen for him instead."

But, as Bianchi had already semi-expected, the happy days with Sawada bringing a new brightness to the day care suddenly ceased to be.

When, after Sawada had shown that Spider Man show to the children and after Lambo's mother had complained about Lambo's learning of the middle finger, Sawada had immediately resigned.

Since Sawada had looked so guilty and certain of the fact that he was the cause of Lambo's discovery of the middle finger, Bianchi had let it go, but now she regretted it. Despite how she acted like she didn't know what truly happened, she did. Of course, to any regular person, it would seem that Tsuna's reasoning that it was his fault would make sense- but not to her, for she stumbled upon Mizuki telling Lambo to stick up his middle finger.

However, because she had no evidence that this actually transpired, she was forced to let Sawada go due to complaints from the mothers.

Bianchi was regretting her passiveness over the situation then now.

Twisting a lock of her sort of wavy, dull-pink hair around her finger, long lashes fluttered over gray green eyes.

"Maybe… I'll sleep a little."

Her head immediately snapped up however, when she heard a familiar, completely welcome voice.

"A-ano….Gokudera-kun…"

x.Tsuna.x

Nothing had changed about the place from when Tsuna was still there.

Nestled between an abandoned warehouse and a factory, the day care still stood out with its bright colors, no matter how faded it was.

This, however, merely seemed to aggravate Gokudera. Walking briskly up to the day care, he slammed open the door to the cheery place and promptly scared the heck out of everyone.

"A-ano…..Gokudera-kun…."

Gokudera sent Tsuna a withering glare in reply.

"Hiii!" Tsuna squeaked, frightened.

He spied a beautiful woman getting up from her desk near the door and coming toward them and gulped.

"Miss Bianchi." He inwardly recognized.

Dressed in a red trench coat over a white tank top and a short, tight, red leather skirt, with 5-inch red high heels to match, even though she was already at least 6 feet, Bianchi proved to be an imposing presence.

Now, as she stood and stalked over angrily to Gokudera, whose entrance had caused several children to start bawling uncontrollably, Tsuna was suddenly reminded of why he missed this job so much.

Colorful yet kind bosses like Miss Bianchi were hard to come by after all.

"Sawada-chan." It was an odd choice of words, blending both familiarity and professionalism, but it had always represented their relationship well.

"Konnichiwa, Miss Bianchi." Tsuna bowed low in respect.

"Well, would you mind looking after the kids for a bit?" Miss Bianchi asked, eyes softening.

"E-eh?!" Tsuna exclaimed, taken aback that Miss Bianchi would trust him near the kids after what he did. "O-of course!"

Tsuna promptly ran away to do just that.

As soon as Tsuna left, Bianchi turned to Gokudera with a murderous look in her eyes.

"What the hell was that for?"

Gokudera started puffing on his cigarette again.

"You bitch. Calling me to come even though I have a busy schedule…" Gokudera glared at Bianchi angrily.

"Did I ever say that you absolutely had to come? No. You chose to, so don't blame me for your choice, Hayato." Bianchi said, her eyes narrowing.

"Feh."

Bianchi sighed. "Same as always, I see."

But she couldn't help but let a wry smile grip her face and an amused look surface in her eyes.

"Really…you've been like this since you were a kid…" Bianchi remarked.

"And what's the point of looking all professional for the kiddies when you are going to smoke in front of them and provide a bad example anyway?"

"Baka." She added on second thought. She still, of course, admired the view that Gokudera gave her though- it may seem weird, but it was weird to see him all dressed up…

Gokudera let out some sort of strange growl at her. "Nee-san."

…even though they were family.

Bianchi took in his green dress shirt, black slacks, and shiny leather shoes, and couldn't help but snicker.

She was so used to his gothic look that this change proved comically hilarious to her. But, she realized that she rather valued this new side of his. Just a few years ago, after all, Gokudera would have just fainted and gotten a stomachache just from looking at her face.

But after certain _things_ came to light last year…

They had been inextricably drawn closer together.

X.Tsuna.X

Mizuki had always thought of herself as pretty. After all, she had a voluptuous figure- big breasts, slim waist, curvy hips, long slender legs, dainty feet, small hands with slim fingers, perfect fair skin, silky, wavy black hair, and the most gorgeous blue eyes ever that only stood out more due to her long, dark lashes.

So, needless to say, she was very irked at the fact that the children wouldn't listen to her, even though she was so ethereal in beauty.

But then, she remembered.

"At least that pathetic bastard isn't here now-god, it was fun to watch the stupid idiot take the blame for that middle finger fiasco." Unknowingly, her pretty face turned ugly from the appallingly evil smirk that she couldn't keep from gracing her face.

Her happy, little daydream was soon shattered, though, when an irritatingly familiar voice suddenly sounded out beside her.

"Guys, long time no see."

"TSUNA!!" The deafening roar that resulted from his appearance rebounded off the walls and shook the entire establishment.

In a split second, Tsuna was covered with toddlers.

Lambo, the kid who had, in a way, unknowingly caused his quitting of this job, was latched onto his calves, screaming,"Play with me, Tsuna! Play! Play! Play!", while an enumerable amount of kids hung onto his hair, shoulders, legs, arms, shirt, pants, you name it.

"What the hell is the bastard doing back here?" Mizuki panicked.

"Ah, konnichiwa, Mizuki-san."

"Ah! Tsuna-chan! How nice to see you again!" Mizuki said in a faked, sweet voice.

_Not._

"How are you doing?" Tsuna asked, curiously, tilting his head to the side cutely.

_I feel like I want to barf, thanks to you._

"Oh, I'm doing absolutely fine!" Mizuki giggled, placing a hand daintily over her mouth.

Tsuna smiled. "That's good."

_Ugh, god, he's so annoying._

She was about to say something as sickeningly sweet as his goddamn smile but then she stopped herself when she saw Bianchi the Bitch walk outside with….

Oh god.

Was that Gokudera from The Guardians?

Immediately, Mizuki started to scheme.

Mizuki might have been a fan girl, but she was definitely the smart kind- she wouldn't have been like the ones to jump out at their idols without even thinking first, after all- it was the contradictory action that her personality would simply not allow.

"I'd be so rich that I could quit this second-rate job and still live a luxurious life if I could seduce that hunk." She thought to herself. "The thing is, how do I make him fall in love with me in such a short time?"

"I better gather information first. First off…"

She broke out of her thoughts and turned to Tsuna.

"A-ano…Tsuna-chan." She pouted and made the most adorable puppy dog eyes she could, placing the tip of her index finger to her full bottom lip.

Tsuna turned to look at her and, brown eyes sparkling, asked, "Yes?"

Another thing that had agitated Mizuki with this man was that, while all the male employees at the day care center would have blushed and rushed to fulfill her every will, he was the only man that ever resisted her looks and advances- no matter how cute or sexy she made herself look, Tsuna wouldn't even blush- though he blushed because of almost anything else.

"Well, what are you doing here?"

"E-EH?!" Tsuna actually looked a bit stumped at the answer.

"Well, I'm actually not all that sure."

Mizuki had to restrain herself from throttling the man in her annoyance. Didn't he know that she couldn't waste her time with him? If he knew nothing, couldn't he just say so? She still could catch up to the Bianchi Bitch and Gokudera if he answered quickly, you know! Still, she managed to make herself smile in an easy manner.

"Maa sa ka!" she drawled airily. "How can you not know? It doesn't make sense, you silly goose!" she giggled once again.

"A-ano…I really don't know. Gomen nasai!" Tsuna bowed low in apology.

_Che. Well, THAT was a waste of my time."_

"Is that so? Well, okay. But, um…" Mizuki started to poke the pads of her index fingers together, and ducked her head low with a shy smile and blush gracing her face.

She pretended to fidget uneasily in her place before going in for the kill.

"I-is it okay if I step out for awhile? I- I mean, if it's too much trouble you don't have to say and watch over the kids but-"

"It's alright." Tsuna interjected.

"Honto ni?!" She pretended to look elated. "Arigatou!" She gave Tsuna a quick hug before she darted out the door.

_Heh. Sucker._

X.Tsuna.X

Mizuki couldn't help but feel her eyes widen and a gasp come to her lips. Quietly clapping a hand over her mouth to muffle any noises of surprise she would make, she leaned against the dirty pillar of the abandoned warehouse, where Gokudera and Bianchi had been talking, believing they were alone.

Her other hand, which was holding her cell phone, began to shake.

She had found the two of them fairly quickly after exiting the day care. She'd seen them slip quietly into the abandoned warehouse next door and had stealthily followed after them. When they weren't looking, she had continued darting behind the huge pillars that dominated the space along the walls of the warehouse.

After a few minutes of hopping from pillar to pillar, the couple had stopped in the deepest corner of the warehouse, which they probably thought would put them in a position safe from the ears of others.

They hadn't been counting on having someone following them to the warehouse, however.

It didn't take a genius to figure out that whatever was to be said was going to be a big secret- and Mizuki wasn't the type to let potential blackmail material fly by her- after all, her philosophy had always been this: Knowledge means power. Besides, in her twenty years of life, she had found that secrets were the most delicious source of sweet control over someone ever.

If, indeed, she had reasoned then, the two were going to discuss something, she might as well record their voices for evidence, just in case, even if what would be said between them wasn't that important anyway.

Her choice proved to be beneficial.

Indeed, even now, Mizuki was shaking…not from shock (well, perhaps, a little bit, but that had already passed a little while ago), nor from disgust, nor disappointment, but rather, excitement- for this little piece of information would allow her to control one of the most powerful men in the world as of now.

She barely managed to refrain herself from laughing in victory.

_What good luck._

After calming her pounding heart, she arranged her face into a less crazy-looking expression.

It wouldn't do for her future husband to see her with sweat rolling down her face, psychotic, wide eyes, and an equally large, crazy smile after all.

She had to presentable, as always, even if the person in question had no choice but to be her husband in the end.

She pressed a button on her cell phone in order to end the recording session before taking a deep breath and stepping out from her hiding place.

The two siblings whirled around at the sound of another presence and stared at her like petrified deer in front of an incoming car, unable to tear their eyes from the fascinating light and incoming death.

It was exhilarating.

Already, Mizuki could feel her heart beating fast again.

After all these years of waiting, she could finally be someone important.

Her breath started to quicken, almost indiscernible.

Her thirst for power would finally be satisfied.

"Hello, Bianchi, Gokudera-kun." She said boldly, slyly.

"I'd like to make a little proposition…"

X.Tsuna.X

"Ne, ne, Lambo-san would like to ask a question." Lambo raised his hand, speaking childishly in his rough voice.

"Sure, Lambo, what is it?" Tsuna asked, patiently as always.

The whole group of children was currently grouped around Tsuna, holding onto whatever part of him was available, just talking after all those years of absence from each other.

Having played with their toys for the majority of the day already, they were now ready for something different- something that never seemed to get old for them- anecdotes and stories that Tsuna always told them.

"Why did you leave?" Lambo asked, and Tsuna actually sat up a bit straighter at the question, unprepared for it.

"E-eto…" He paused. Should he lie? But no…doing so would betray their trust, and he didn't want them to become liars in the future. Children, he had found, were incredibly perceptive in determining whether someone was lying to them or not, even though they rarely confronted the person about it when they _did_ lie.

He sighed. He knew they would be able to see through him in a moment if he lied- he had always been a bad liar after all.

"Well, remember when you stuck up your middle finger, Lambo?" Tsuna paused. "And just to repeat, _don't ever do that again_…"

Lambo nodded impatiently, waving his hand around to get Tsuna to just get to the point.

"That was sort of my fault…" He sighed. "I should have never shown that Spiderman movie to you kids without telling you first that he didn't stick up his middle finger, he stuck up his…"

"…This finger right?" The whole group of children chorused, every one of them doing the correct imitation of Spiderman's hand gesture.

"Heh?" Tsuna was confused. "Then, why did you stick up that finger, Lambo?"

Lambo looked uncomfortable for a minute before asking, "Loser Tsuna, did you leave Lambo-san because you got in trouble because of that?"

"…Yes…" Tsuna said, a bit carefully.

"Well, she promised me not to tell…but if it's because of me that Loser Tsuna got kicked out by Miss Bianchi then…." Lambo appeared indecisive for a minute, his nose wrinkling and lips curling in thought, before continuing.

"Miss Mizuki taught me how to do that."

Tsuna felt as if he'd been slapped.

And then, he remembered the look in Mizuki's eyes when she was asking about what he was doing there and how she had glanced at Gokudera leaving with Miss Bianchi with that strange glint in her eyes…

Suddenly, Tsuna had a very bad feeling.

_Gokudera-san…._

He suddenly stood up, very worried, dislodging several toddlers hanging from his back in the process.

_Gokudera-san…._

Just then the door opened, and Keita, a co-worker Tsuna recognized during his time working in the day care center, stepped in.

"MIZUKI-CHWAAAAANNNN, I'M HERE TO TAKE OVER YOUR SHIIIIFTTT!" The man announced in a sing-song voice.

Now knowing that the children wouldn't be alone now, Tsuna burst out of the door in a blur.

_Gokudera-san…._

Turning quickly on the heel of his foot, he didn't even falter at the shock of pain that coursed up his leg from the remnants of the twisted ankle injury.

Relying on his intuition, he dashed toward the abandoned warehouse.

_Gokudera-san…_

He had to make there in time! He couldn't allow anyone to get hurt if he could help it!

…Not anymore.

…_.You're in danger, Gokudera-san!_

X.Tsuna.X

"YOU BITCH! GET OUT OF HERE!" Gokudera shouted at Mizuki angrily.

"You better stop outside." Bianchi said, calmly, threateningly. "Or I'll make you regret it."

"Ara…" Mizuki smirked. "Do you have the right to say that to me, I wonder?" She said, relishing in her power.

"What do you mean?" Bianchi said, though she half-knew the answer and dreaded it.

"You wouldn't want it to be leaked out to the public that renowned Hayato Gokudera is actually the illegitimate son of a mafia boss, would you?"

"As if you have any proof, you bitch? As if anyone is gonna listen to your crazy talk."

Gokudera leaned against the pillar nearest him, took out a cigarette, lit it, and proceeded to smoke, projecting the image of relaxation.

Yet…

Mizuki smirked, and resisted the urge to laugh.

"You say that, but your hands' are shaking."

Gokudera's fingers around his cigarette, and his jaw visibly tensed.

"You bitch." He said again, but everyone noticed that the insult was a lot emptier than before.

Bianchi sighed.

"How much…?"

"Hrn?"

Bianchi was about to snap. "How much do you want, you bitch?"

Mizuki actually did laugh this time.

"What's so funny?!" Gokudera growled defensively.

"Do you think I'm like those stupid people who would accept such bribes?" Her eyes darkened. "Why would I want to receive a limited amount of wealth, when I can have an unlimited number?"

"What…do you mean by that?"

Mizuki scoffed at their stupidity.

"I mean…." She smiled. "In exchange for keeping my mouth shut about this…"

She smiled coyly at Gokudera.

"_Hayato-chan_ will marry me."

This seemed to be the last straw for Gokuera.

"YOU BIT-"

"Yeah, yeah, you BITCH!" Mizuki rolled her eyes.

"For a smart person, you are awfully, repetitive aren't you?"

Gokudera started to shout the exact same insult again, before he caught himself and stopped.

"Well." Mizuki said, "I see you two are still pretty reluctant…but maybe this will change your mind quickly." She laughed. "I wonder what the public would think when they hear this!"

She took out her cell phone, and replayed her recording to them.

By the time she had flipped her cell phone shut, the two siblings had become pale.

A moment of silence ensued, with Mizuki smiling triumphantly, tossing her cell phone cockily up and down.

"A-alri-" Gokudera had to stop to swallow down his disgust.

He opened his mouth to agree to the deal before…

Suddenly, a brown blur fluttered past Mizuki and stopped a few feet away from her.

The two siblings' eyes widened.

"SAWADA?!"

The boy in question was on the floor, breathing rapidly, eyes wide and wild.

Gripping the cell phone in his tight grasp, he held it to his chest, as if it would help him regain his breath and slow his heart.

"H-heh?" Mizuki turned to him, seemingly normal-looking, and stared at him imploringly.

"Tsuna-chan?"

She laughed, but the sound came out creepy.

As if noticing that, she quickly cleared her throat, and started toward him.

"What are you doing, Tsuna-chan?" She coaxed him, as if he were a child.

"Give that back to Mizuki-chan, ne?"

Tsuna couldn't even look at her, his bangs shadowing his eyes from sight.

He had always known that Mizuki had not been in her right mind- perhaps, he was the only one that noticed.

He had always been able to sense that obsessive thirst for power within her, and maybe, that was the one aspect of her that kept him from liking her as much as the other male employees did.

Perhaps it was the glint in her eyes whenever she looked at Bianchi, or maybe it was how, when, on a lunch break, she would always stare at the particularly important people of society on TV with a head0-spinnning mixture of envy and hate, that had first clued Tsuna in to her less-than-stable mind, but whatever it was, Tsuna was glad that he had sensed it.

Yet, even then, he was never afraid of her- she may have been a bit crazy, but she had always been harmless.

But now, Tsuna could still feel the way fear had gripped his heart when he saw the way her eyes had looked as she had talked to the two (now he knew) siblings.

Mizuki was no longer harmless.

Her eyes now had a desperate tinge to them- as if, to achieve what she wanted, she would do anything.

Even kill.

He was so very, very scared of her now.

Gathering the last bits of his courage, he took a steady breath, and then…

CRASH!

He suddenly stood up, threw the cell phone to the ground, and started stomping on it.

In a matter of minutes, the cell phone was destroyed, and all evidence lost.

"Hah….Hah…" Mizuki stared at the phone, stationary for a few minutes, before crumpling into a ball, rocking back and forth, tucking her face into the space between her chest and knees.

She gripped her bangs and tugged them, as if she were tormented.

"No…no…my last chance…last…chance…" she started to murmur brokenly, and Tsuna felt just a bit of regret sneak into his heart at the pathetic sight that Mizuki presented.

And then, she stopped rocking back and forth.

A chill went up Tsuna's spine.

"If…" She suddenly said, more calmly than before, "If I can't have success through him…."

"Then…"

In a flash she was up and running towards Gokudera, after having flicked open her Swiss Army Knife.

"I'LL MAKE SURE NO ONE WILL!"

Gokudera smirked. Now that nothing was used against him, he could fight back freely.

But just as he was about to fend her off, Tsuna suddenly got in his way.

"WH-?!"

Both Mizuki and Gokudera's eyes widened as the knife sank deep into Tsuna's arm.

Normally, the knife wouldn't have done much damage, but the force that Mizuki had used to stab Tsuna caused the knife to sink deep into his arm, and blood now rolled down his arm seemingly unceasingly.

"H-hah…" Mizuki started to breathe hard again, and she took a shaky step backwards.

"W-why…" But she shut up as Tsuna raised his head, eyes connecting with hers.

For a minute, she thought she stopped breathing.

His eyes held something- SOMETHING- that frightened her so much that she couldn't even move. His eyes had turned amber- almost golden, and now shone, to her, with some unreal light that she feared- oh so much.

Determination? Threat? No.

When she finally gained control of her senses, she ran away from the scene.

She didn't look back.

But, as the wind whipped her face, she realized what had made her so scared of Tsuna.

In his eyes had been…

…_selflessness and a strong will to protect..._

…And it scared her because…

_It represented everything she was not._

X.Tsuna.X

"YOU IDIOT! GOD, NO WONDER YOU GOT FIRED SO MUCH!"

Tsuna laughed sheepishly.

They were currently sitting in Gokudera's car, with Gokudera diligently wrapping white bandages around Tsuna's forearm. The Swiss Army Knife that had remained lodged in Tsuna's arm had been carefully removed by Bianchi with her latex glove covered hands.

She had immediately dumped it into a plastic bag, claiming it as "evidence", though everyone there already knew the police wouldn't be called.

After all, calling the police would entail the siblings' having to reveal what they had tried so hard to keep a secret anyway. Still, Mizuki needed to be dealt with, so Tsuna had no doubt that Bianchi would have their so called mafia group figure out Mizuki's whereabouts through the examination of her finger prints on the Swiss Army Knife- well, he wasn't quite sure what they were going to do with the "evidence" but the fact remains that _something_ would be done about the situation, whatever it was.

Likewise, Tsuna couldn't exactly go to the hospital for his treatment. Thankfully, Gokudera was a renowned doctor and was more than capable of taking care of his wound.

Neither sibling had mentioned the "keeping quiet" of Tsuna's mouth, but Bianchi had given him this little sincere and trusting smile to him before she had left them, and Tsuna had automatically known that Bianchi trusted him to keep their secret.

Gokudera, however, had yet to mention it.

After tying up the makeshift bandage securely around Tsuna's arm, Gokudera let go of Tsuna's arm and started to put on his seat belt silently, preparing to drive back home.

Tsuna followed suit.

The car let out a soft rumble as it started, and they set off after a few minutes.

This time, Gokudera drove slowly, and Tsuna smiled as he relaxed against the soft, leather seats, watching as the scenery of green passed before his eyes, and feeling the crisp, fresh air blow through his hair and caress his face.

It was just as Tsuna felt himself slipping into sleep that he heard Gokudera ask, "Why?"

Sleep slithered away from Tsuna's grasp as soon as the word was uttered.

"Why what?" Tsuna asked, turning to look at Gokudera.

The hands on the steering wheel tightened a bit, and Gokudera asked again.

"Why did you come in between me and that crazy bitch?"

And then, angrily, "I could have taken care of her. Why did you come in and complicate things?"

He gritted his teeth.

"Or did you think that I was too weak to handle her?"

"No." Tsuna said simply. "You were in danger, so I helped."

Suddenly, Gokudera let out a snort.

"Oh, I get it. You didn't want to risk me dying, because if I died, then you can't use that little _secret_ against me. So tell me, how much do you want?"

The fist tightened around the steering wheel until the knuckles turned white.

"I just want your friendship."

Gokudera laughed, high and shrill, and Tsuna couldn't help but wince.

"Friendship?! Hah! Don't joke with me!" His voice sounded mildly emotional now, and each word shook as if someone was jerking Gokudera around while he talked.

"Listen, I really-" Tsuna started.

Gokudera brought the car to an abrupt stop near a park.

"Don't waste my time." Gokudera said tersely.

"Just tell me how much."

"I…"

"Don't give me that bullshit! Why the hell would you want to protect me and be my friend after how I treated you?!"

"Because I understand."

He laughed again, but this time, Gokudera sounded on the verge of tears.

Apparently, the episode today had affected him more than he had thought.

"What would _you_ understand?"

There was a pause, and then, Tsuna replied.

"Okay. How about this then? To prove I won't leak out your secret, I'll give one of my own."

Before Gokudera could make a sarcastic remark again, Tsuna spoke again.

"I…my father was never there during my childhood. I mean, he appeared here and there every few weeks, but gradually, that became every few months, then every few years, until one day, he stopped coming back home altogether."

Tsuna felt his breath catch in his throat. He'd never told anyone else about this- not even Haru or I-pin, and it was only now that he realized how much his father's absence had really bothered him.

He cleared his throat, and when he spoke again, his voice was shaky.

"It was okay for me, because he had never been a big part of my life anyway…" He paused, seemed to rethink that statement, and started again. "Well…maybe…" He closed his eyes.

"He meant more to me than I had originally thought. I guess…it's just that I've always wanted a father."

Tsuna laughed bitterly. "Does it count that I have a father if I never see him anyway?" He shook his head. "My mom…I had thought she was like me, and that it never bothered her much, because…" Now, Tsuna was really swallowing back tears- her mother had been such a big influence in his life- and she still was. "…Because she would always keep smiling no matter what. I didn't notice that she was just being strong for me until…"

Tsuna wiped away the –goddamn!- tears that started to roll down his cheeks.

"I didn't notice until she collapsed one day and I found out that she had done so because she was so overstressed!"

He covered his eyes for a brief moment because the sudden remembrance of his mother proved too much for him.

"…even now…she's in the hospital…in a coma."

He was about to continue when a hand was placed on top of his head, and he felt his hair being ruffled.

He heard a defeated sigh, and then Gokudera said, "I should have expected you didn't do it with any ulterior motive. You goddamn idiot."

But now, the insult was more endearing than anything else.

Gokudera usually didn't trust tear shows that easily, but…it was just that…when Tsuna speaking, he was reminded of how he felt.

…It was hard to explain, but for some reason, he just knew that Tsuna wasn't lying.

"Maybe this is what they call kindred spirits." He thought.

He sighed. No, that wasn't right. He had known that Tsuna never wanted anything in return for protecting him from the start- it was just that he was stubborn. He couldn't just accept the fact that there was someone in the world who actually _cared_ enough about him to risk their life for him.

How did he know that Tsuna didn't have an ulterior motive? At first, Tsuna had stood before him, with his legs and arms out, not protecting his body in any way, shape or form. He could have seriously been killed.

It was only after Mizuki had come close enough that Tsuna's self preservation skills came in, and he'd raised a hand to block the knife. Even then, Gokudera had realized through his experience and knowledge as a doctor, it was merely a reflex.

And, oh god, when Tsuna had actually revealed that painful part of himself needlessly, he had felt, for the first time in his life, maybe there was at least one damn person in the world that was worthy enough to live.

Still, he wasn't ready yet to open up to anyone else…

…he'd been hurt far too many times to open up to people easily.

And yet, he figured he owed the man next to him at least a "thank you".

So he did.

"Thank you." He whispered hoarsely, almost inaudibly.

But when Tsuna suddenly turned to him, eyes sparkling and glowing golden in the sunset light that streamed in through the car's window, his lips upturned in that sweet smile, with acceptance and welcome written all over his features- _true_ acceptance and welcome- his indecisiveness at trusting another person immediately vanished.

And for the first time in his life since he learned that he was the illegitimate son of a mafia boss and a pianist, he smiled.

For, for the first time in his _entire_ life, Hayato Gokudera found that…

He could completely devote his entire soul and body to that foolish but selfless and _goddamn kind_ boy next to him.

If anyone deserved to be the Tenth boss of Vongola Corps., he realized, it was that boy next to him.

And at that moment in his life, Gokudera answered the unspoken promise in Sawada Tsunayoshi's eyes- the promise that had convinced him to devote his entire life to him.

_Tenth,_

No.

_Sawada Tsunayoshi…_

_Tsuna…_

_Just like what you promised…_

_No matter what happens…_

_I, too…_

…_shall forever stay by your side._

-X.OWARI.X-

Whew. Oh my god. I can't believe I just wrote that.

Was it believable? Did I make Gokudera's action Gokdera-like? WAH! IT WAS SO HARD TO TRY TO DO THAT!

That, of course, was partly the reason why I abandoned this story for four months.

I'M SO SORRY ABOUT THAT! –dodges flying weapons of mass destruction-

Well, anyway, I hope you liked it?

I'm so sorry for Gokudera fan girls…I totally messed him up. Gomen.

Next Chapter: Wounds

(Yamamoto's next, yay!)


	7. Wounds

Yay! Finally, all my exams are over, so it's free writing for me all the way! Well, sort of. I'm going to go to Japan and China in a few days, so needless to say, I am PUMPED and EXCITED. WOOOO!

Don't worry though. If I manage to find a keyboard with the alphabet on it in an Internet Café, I'll start typing, yes sir!

Thanks, reviewers all!

Disclaimer: Amano Akira owns Katekyo Hitman Reborn. I am not Amano Akira.

Note: Alright, a few people were confused about the Vongola Tenth thingy, right? Because I'm lazy, just check Chapter Four. I mention almost everything about how Vongola Corps is run there. Basically, the next CEO of Vongola Corps is chosen according to their capabilities, so just about anyone in the company, even a janitor, can pretty much become the next CEO. I'll get into the details about how the CEO is chosen later on in the story.

Pairings: You'll have to see…hehehe…

WARNING: POTTY-MOUTH GOKUDERA

….-….x-….-….

Chapter Seven: Wounds

Tsuna had thought that, perhaps, once he moved out of Haru's house, his mornings would be noticeably quieter, and a whole lot more peaceful. He had been worried that he wouldn't be used to the silence of the mornings, but his fretful thinking was unnecessary.

He didn't have to wait long to find this out, for the next morning…

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING MUKURO?!"

Tsuna could feel the house trembling from Gokudera's shout.

He brought his sparrow-printed, brown quilt over his head and shivered under it.

In a mantra in his mind, he said to himself repeatedly, "I'm asleep, I'm asleep, I can't hear anything, I can't hear anything…"

Still, that didn't stop the conversation from reaching his ears.

"Ara…why, I was just cooking us breakfast…."

"WHY THE-" Gokudera seemed to struggle for a proper word to help enunciate the ridiculousness of Mukuro's actions in his mind-clouding anger and settled for whatever word popped out of his mouth instinctively. "….FUCKING HELL- DID YOU PUT _PINEAPPLES_ TOGETHER WITH _TUNA FISH_ AND _TOMATOES_ AND A WEIRD-ASS _BIRD_? ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL US YOU BAT-SHIT CRAZY _FREAK_?"

Gokudera was practically seething in anger at this point.

"Why, it's because…I like tuna fish, I added pineapples because they look cool, and the bird? I just killed it in anger because it was about to steal MY tuna fish." Mukuro said innocently and as if that was _not strange at all_.

There was a silence, in which Tsuna could almost see Gokudera's disturbed facial expression.

"I don't like to share." Mukuro offered as a further explanation.

There was a great, dramatic sigh, and then, downstairs, Gokudera threw his hands up in defeat.

"I give up! I'll never be able to understand you!"

"Ara?" Mukuro purred suggestively, and his eyelids lowered provocatively over dark blue eyes.

"I had no idea that you were _so_ interested in what I was thinking."

Mukuro sighed. "Unfortunately, I have no interest in you, _Goku-chan_."

Gokudera bristled at this, and his hackles rose.

"I dare you to call me that again." He responded, holding back the anger.

The silver-haired male stuffed his hands into the pockets of his black suit and appeared to grasp something.

"I'm not _that_ stupid. Unlike _someone_ I know…" Mukuro said, casting a meaningful glance at Hibari, who was sitting at the small wooden table in the kitchen, playing with his tonfas.

"Hn." Hibari, who had never been the verbose one, merely gave a grunt and a warning side glance at Mukuro.

Mukuro mockingly pouted. "Aw…You're no fun."

But, a minute later, even more unsettlingly, he gave a smile.

"But I know who _is_." He added in a sing-song voice.

Gokudera could only watch as Mukuro pranced up the stairs for a minute, thinking about whom the nut could possibly be…talking….about….

CRAP!

"JUUDAIME! RUN FOR IT!"

He made a mad scramble up the stairs in a vain effort to try to get to Tsuna before Mukuro could get to him, but alas, of course, he was too late.

"KYA!!"

Even though Tsuna had, from his _supposedly_ safe bed, heard Gokudera's frantic warning, he couldn't relax fast enough.

In fact, he had just gotten off the bed and was prepared to run when Mukuro suddenly burst into his newly established room, pounced on him, and pulled him back into his bed, bringing the covers up over their heads.

Less than a second later, Gokudera burst into the room, huffing and puffing.

"Let go of the Tenth!"

"Aw…but why? He's so cute…" Mukuro did a rather effective imitation of a puppy-dog look.

Then, much to Gokudera and Tsuna's chagrin, Mukuro took Tsuna's head into his hands, and planted a kiss to his cheek.

There was a pause of horrified silence.

"HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!" Tsuna scrambled off his bed, landing ungracefully on his behind.

"How…how dare you do this to the Tenth!"

Gokudera leapt at Mukuro, intending to strangle him, but Mukuro stepped elegantly off the bed, and, before Gokudera could react, wrapped him securely in Tsuna's quilt, rendering him immobile.

"Oi! Get me out! RARGH!"

Gokudera rolled around on the bed, fruitlessly trying to get himself out of his makeshift cocoon while Mukuro advanced on Tsuna.

Freaked out, Tsuna could only move backwards in a strange motion.

Soon enough, however, Tsuna was herded into a corner, from which he was unable to escape.

"A-ano...Mukuro-san, desu ka? W-what are you doing?"

"Trapping you, of course!" Mukuro laughed.

"A-ano…"

But before Tsuna could get what he wanted to say out, Mukuro had planted both of his hands on either side of Tsuna's face, and was now leaning uncomfortably close.

"We didn't exactly welcome you the other day, so I'd like to properly welcome you now."

And then, Mukuro kissed him…right on the mouth.

That is, if Hibari had not entered the room at that moment.

"How rude."

Dangerously said, Mukuro glared at Hibari. In his hands, the ends of Hibari's tonfas were held to keep them from hitting his head, which was the initial intention.

"Can't you see I'm busy?"

Hibari merely gave Mukuro a tight-lipped smile.

The truth was, Hibari had no idea what irked him about the position he had seen Tsuna and Mukuro in…but that was beside the point- all that mattered now was biting Mukuro to death!

And so, a high speed elite battle was commenced.

As Tsuna watched with round eyes as the two circled around each other with an amazing speed, leaping and attacking, evading and trading blows, there was only one thing that ran through his head.

_I am so getting a new lock._

TSUNA.LOVES.PINEAPPLES.BUT.IS.SCARED.OF.THE.SPIKES.

When everything calmed down, which was only after Tsuna's whole room was destroyed in the wake of a battle, and only after Gokudera was released, snarling obscenities under his breath, from his warm cocoon, did breakfast start.

Or rather, it was after Mukuro took out his trident, pointed it to Tsuna's backside, and threatened to stick the prongs up his ass (and maybe something else, with a lewd smile on his face) if he didn't start making what he wanted _right now_.

So, now, with tears streaming down his face, Tsuna was rushing around the kitchen making breakfast. Currently, Mukuro had pulled the pointy ends of his trident away from his direction, but was still giving Tsuna a creepy smile from behind that sent the hair on the nape of his neck on end.

"Kufufufu…"

…And the laugh was NOT helping, thank you very much.

Still, Tsuna wondered, after he had calmed down slightly, how the band had survived until now when he had first gone downstairs and saw a mess of a breakfast.

He didn't even want to _know_ what the mess in the pot was. In fact, his expression had been so disgusted that Gokudera had personally disposed of the pot and its contents just for him with an enthusiastic, "I'D DO ANYTHING FOR YOU, JUUDAIME!"

He sighed, and smiled wryly.

This wasn't going to be easy after all.

Closing his eyes as he prepared the finishing touches to the last meal to be served, pineapple with tuna (which Mukuro had specifically requested), he realized that, in truth…

He didn't mind at all.

Then again, Tsuna felt a drop of sweat roll down the side of his face, maybe he did, after feeling the cold metal of Mukuro's trident against his cheek.

There was a tense silence before Mukuro laughed.

"Kufufufufu…looks like everything looks delicious…"

However, perceptive as always, Tsuna caught the vague disappointment in Mukuro's voice.

_THANK YOU KAA-SAN FOR TEACHING ME HOW TO COOK! ARIGATOU!_

And with that, everyone settled down for breakfast- well, just Mukuro, HIbari, Gokudera, and Tsuna.

Yamamoto hadn't been contacted since the day before yesterday and Ryohei and Lambo apparently, preferred to live with their families, and only lived in the exclusive mansion when their work called for it.

With a sad jolt, Tsuna realized that the band members who stayed in this mansion the most were those who had no home to return to.

Tsuna chomped particularly hard on a piece of scrambled egg.

He'd decided- he was going to do everything in his power to make this more of a home for them.

He was broken from his thoughts when Mukuro gave a little noise of appreciation.

"Your cooking…is not that bad…"

Tsuna was confused at that subtle compliment. Hadn't he tasted his…?

Oh! With a pang, Tsuna remembered that Mukuro was the only one who he hadn't had to cook for during that little "mission" he was sent on to determine his worth.

Before Tsuna could thank Mukuro, Gokudera suddenly intercepted.

"OF COURSE! THE TENTH'S COOKING IS AMAZING!"

Tsuna waved a hand around in a placating manner.

"Didn't I tell you to just call me Tsuna, Gokudera-san?"

"B-but…" Gokudera's eyes were suddenly shadowed by his hair.

"THAT WOULD BE TOO DISRESPECTFUL TO A MAN AS GREAT AS YOU!"

Tsuna's head fell down upon the dining table mercilessly with a dull CLUNK!

It was futile to try to convince Gokudera otherwise; even he could tell at this point in their less-than-healthy friendship.

Before Gokudera could spew forth more great things about him though, Yamamoto entered the room, and immediately, a hush fell over the room.

Yamamoto had a cast on his pitching arm.

A hesitant and uncomfortable quiet permeated throughout the previously raucous room, and the unspoken question was finally answered by Yamamoto after a moment.

"I got a bit excited by yesterday's game and…."

Yamamoto trailed off and laughed.

"But I'll be fine!"

Tsuna could tell that it wasn't even _fine_.

Gokudera opened his mouth to say something but Yamamoto cut him off with a grin.

"So, what's for breakfast?"

The conversation was clearly closed.

Huffing, Gokudera jammed a cigarette into his mouth and lit it.

"Whatever you stupid baseball freak." He muttered darkly underneath his breath.

Turning to Tsuna, his demeanor noticeably brightened.

"I'M GOING TO WORK NOW, JUUDAIME! DON'T WORK YOURSELF TOO HARD!"

Tsuna laughed jerkily, uncomfortable with the sudden, huge displays of adoration and devotion thrown his way.

"Have a nice day at work!" He called after Gokudera, but no reply came.

"_Anyhow_," Mukuro suddenly said, "It's your turn to test our wannabe manager, Yamamoto."

"Oh, is that so?"

"Yes. Anyway, I have to go to a rehearsal with my other band now, and _Tonfa-san_ has a bunch of unsuspecting new actors to beat up."

Sighing, irritated it seemed, about this job of his, Hibari left the room after finishing up his daily miso soup immediately.

Mukuro left almost right after, but not before he slapped Tsuna on the butt, which, of course, sent him flying about three foot up in the air and squealing like a girl.

But that left him and Yamamoto in a most uncomfortable silence, which Tsuna felt the brunt of after his face faded back to normal from its previously heated and crimson complexion, and after his breathing had returned to its regular pace, instead of his panicked and short gasps of breath.

Surprisingly, however, it was not Tsuna that broke the awkwardness, but Yamamoto.

Laughing in his characteristically disarming way, Yamamoto apologized.

"I was planning to take you out on a more interesting "test" but as you can see, I'm not exactly qualified to do that at the moment."

Yamamoto's laugh sounded so hollow and fake that Tsuna felt tears spring to his eyes.

"My doctor told me I hurt my arm pretty severely, and said that if I don't take care of it extremely well, I…might not be able to play…baseball again. And then I still have to go through rehabilitation."

Yamamoto swallowed thickly, as if it hurt for him to say it out loud; as if, now that he had, it only solidified the truth of the situation.

Tsuna opened his mouth to say something, to comfort Yamamoto, but before even a sound could be let out into the now silent room, Yamamoto abruptly stood up.

"Well!" Yamamoto said breezily, "If you'll excuse me, I have to go up into my room for a while. I'm still busy, busy, busy."

Briskly striding to the door to the kitchen, he stopped for a moment, his uninjured hand grasping the doorframe.

Bangs shadowing his eyes, Yamamoto turned toward Tsuna, who was still gaping like an idiot on the floor.

His lips opened, as if to say something, but then, resolutely, the mouth was again closed, pressed into a thin, straight line.

Without another word, Yamamoto left the room, and the house was suddenly doused in an eerie silence.

For a long while, Tsuna sat there, on the cold blue and blue green ceramic tiles, stunned at the unusual sullenness he had detected from Yamamoto in that brief second.

Then, he sighed, and flopped backwards onto the floor, turning his head so that the warmth of his cheek pressed against the comforting coolness of ceramic tiles on the floor.

All of a sudden, he didn't feel so well anymore.

!!NUUUUUU!!YAMAMOTO!!

Not wanting to disturb Yamamoto from his self-proclaimed business, Tsuna busied himself for the rest of the day until time to make lunch by watching a bit of television, cleaning some random parts of the enormous mansion, and other miscellaneous, random tasks such as these.

It wasn't until after lunch was made- onigiri with red bean paste as filling, and sushi, along with Tsuna's own special blend of fruit punch- that Tsuna sensed something wrong.

It was the same intuition that alerted him to something terribly wrong yesterday, with Gokudera's little fiasco, and it brought a sudden cold feeling sweeping through him.

His stomach clenched uncomfortably, and, in a split second, he had abandoned setting lunch down onto the table.

Letting instinct reign supreme over his body, he bounded up the stairs with awe-inspiring agility, something no one would have expected him to have, given his usual clumsiness.

Dashing along the hallways of the third hallway, his feet, seemingly moving of their own accord, skidded to a stop in front of a door, and somehow, Tsuna knew, that, certainly, this was Yamamoto's room.

Without even stopping to knock, Tsuna pushed open the door with amazing strength, breaking the lock on the door in the process.

Immediately, he rushed towards the en suite bathroom, and again, broke open the locked door.

And he saw exactly what he had feared.

"Yamamoto-kun!"

Yamamoto stared, wide-eyed, a shard of glass, sharp point faced down, as if poised to create a slit across his wrist. He looked as if he were a child caught in an act of mischief.

For a while, they stared at each other, Yamamoto at a loss as to what to say, and Tsuna, eyes wide with disbelief.

Quietly, afraid to know the answer, Tsuna finally asked in a small voice, "Nande, Yamamoto-kun?"

The other brown-eyed youth did not answer right away. Instead, he picked up one of the many glass shards littered about on the floor around him, and fingered it thoughtfully.

A quick glance to the side told Tsuna that the glass had come from the photograph frame on the floor beside Yamamoto. But what the photo in it entailed was lost to Tsuna, as it was covered in shadows and made indiscernible.

Yamamoto made a small, incoherent noise, catching Tsuna's attention once again.

But Yamamoto was once again silent, and his warm eyes suddenly looked lost and contemplating.

"I…" Yamamoto paused, surprised to find that his voice was shaking.

"I…" He started again, but when he couldn't find the words he was looking for, his eyebrows suddenly knotted together in a gesture of anger and frustration.

Angered brown eyes, flashing red in the brilliant fluorescent light of the bathroom, suddenly connected with Tsuna's own honey-dew ones and the glass shard in Yamamoto's hand shattered easily as Yamamoto's fist tightened around it in the sudden tide of his overwhelming emotions.

"WHAT WOULD YOU UNDERSTAND?! A NOBODY LIKE YOU WOULD _NEVER_ UNDERSTAND!"

Tsuna snapped back, hurt. But then, in a sudden burst of courage, he stepped slightly closer to Yamamoto.

Almost imperceptibly, Tsuna found Yamamoto scooting back a bit, trembling as a torrent of feelings washed over him.

"Maybe I would," Tsuna said calmly, "But no one could understand…if you don't even try telling someone else."

"No." Yamamoto repeated, sounding sure of himself this time. "No," he repeated, as if that would make it true, "No," Yamamoto said, voice strong, "You would never understand."

This time, when Tsuna inched forward again, he did not recede.

Almost too calmly for his earlier hysterical behavior, Yamamoto continued.

"Today is…" Yamamoto screwed up his nose in distaste. "Today _was_ supposed to be a baseball game against the Kokuyo Snakes…the baseball game that our whole team poured our hearts into our training to beat…"

"…And yet…I…"

Yamamoto suddenly stood up, crunching glass in his wake.

"Instead…I become unable to play baseball right before the game…I've let my team down."

The black haired man closed his eyes, fighting back tears.

"As I am right now…I'm useless. Baseball is everything to me…and now that I can't play, I have no meaning in life…"

Yamamoto laughed so shrilly and bitterly that even Yamamoto himself winced a bit.

"…Than why keep on wasting space?"

"Yamamoto…" Tsuna started.

Yamamoto rounded on him.

"Don't you _dare_ pity me." Yamamoto growled. He made some noises that barely resembled a laugh.

"Even a nobody pities me! Oh, how have I fallen!" He remarked sarcastically.

"But," he added, "I'm nothing right now anyway. I could very well be worse than you."

A hesitant silence, then, tentatively, Tsuna started.

"I…do not pity you."

Yamamoto opened his mouth, a nasty comment already about to be borne, but Tsuna cut in.

"I envy you."

And this comment shut Yamamoto up.

"I…am a nobody, like you said." Unable to meet Yamamoto's eyes, he looked down and started twiddling his thumbs.

"And I may not understand how you feel completely…"

Tsuna ceased all movement.

"But I think…I think…In some twisted way, this is actually a symbol of something good."

Tsuna looked up and caught Yamamoto's eyes.

"Because, you know, I can't even relate to how you feel."

He smiled shyly.

"I don't know what it means to fall, or how it feels to lose something important, something that determines your worth, so strongly, or rather, at all, because I have no talent to begin with."

Slowly, gradually, Tsuna reached out and grabbed Yamamoto's hands tenderly.

"But, as you said, you're different. You had something to lose."

Tsuna's eyes suddenly glowed with something…something that rendered Yamamoto unable to tear his eyes away from Tsuna's.

"Even so, it's not gone! You may lose this chance to fight against the Kokuyo Snakes, and you might have let your teammates down this time, but-but!"

Tsuna's hands tightened around Yamamoto's for a brief moment before it relaxed again.

"But…you still have many other chances…" Calmer now, "The injury you have…didn't the doctor say that you might still be able to play if you take care of it well? Even though you still have to go through rehabilitation…it's not guaranteed that this will end your career! It's not over yet!"

Tsuna started to pick out the pieces of glass that had plunged into the flesh of Yamamoto's hand when it shattered.

"You still have a chance…and you still have talent…you're not like me…so…."

Tsuna pulled the last shard out of his hand.

"So, don't give up just yet, ne?"

Tsuna squeezed Yamamoto's hand gently.

"Ganbatte, ne? I'll be cheering for you!"

Yamamoto could only stare.

"And," Tsuna said, curling Yamamoto's fingers over his palm, so that Yamamoto's hand started to form a fist, "Even if you feel as if there is no meaning in life for you because you've lost baseball, and if it turns out that you really can't play anymore…"

Tsuna paused in his ministrations.

"Then, you will still have a meaning, because you are a very special person to me…because you're my precious friend…so…so…even if the worst happens…"

Tsuna smiled.

"Live for me, okay?"

When Yamamoto didn't respond, Tsuna started to blabber.

"S-so, don't ever attempt this thing again, okay?"

Tsuna's eyes started to swirl in his embarrassment and uneasiness.

"Not that you should listen to everything I say, but, I mean I'm sorry for bothering you with such a selfish request, and oh! I'm very sorry for scolding you like that and I probably don't have the right to bother you like that so-"

Yamamoto cut him off by suddenly falling onto Tsuna, burying his head into the crook of Tsuna's shoulder, and holding Tsuna close to him, gently, by applying pressure onto the back of Tsuna's head with his uninjured hand.

"Heh?! Yamamoto-kun? Yamamoto-kun? Daijoubu?" Tsuna, blushing bright red, made as if to twirl his arms about, unsure of what to do in this predicament, but stilled when Yamamoto spoke again.

"Let me just stay like this for a while longer…okay?" Yamamoto said softly, voice muffled.

Tsuna's eyes widened in shock briefly, before his eyes closed and his lips upturned into a soft smile.

Gingerly, Tsuna wrapped his own arms around Yamamoto in a comforting hug, and the two stayed like that for a long while, in the bathroom, surrounded by the broken shards of pain, and disappointment, and regret.

They stayed like that for god knows how long, one hour, two hours, perhaps even five hours.

In that small windowless room, time seemed to stop, as if just for them.

But Tsuna did not move, even when his arms started to cramp and his legs started to tremble from standing up for so long…because, inadvertently, he had promised that he would forever stay by Yamamoto's side…no matter what.

And he would do so…

…With utmost certainty.

Finally, Yamamoto let him go and immediately, Tsuna spoke, not even letting a chance for an uncomfortable silence to slip in.

"Right! Let's go! The lunch I made is probably cold, but I can warm it up real quick and…"

Yamamoto interrupted Tsuna's tirade.

"Tsuna."

"Hai?"

"…What I said before…" He stopped.

"You…"

And then Yamamoto smiled genuinely for the first time in a long while, with pure happiness.

"You are more special than you think." He whispered.

And the room of shattered dreams and sadness was left behind.

?!Sugar?!

That night, Yamamoto lay in bed, staring at the full moon through the window beside his bed. Then, he raised his uninjured arm, and stared at the bandages, which Tsuna had wrapped around his hand personally, glowing an ethereal blue in the moonlight.

It was as if the bandage was healing his wounds with magic right this moment.

Smiling bemusedly, he stared at the bandage in wonder.

He had felt, as Tsuna had meticulously, carefully, peeled away the glass pieces in his hand, shard by shard, the own shards in his heart being pulled away with each words said, with each tender, caring touch.

In that bathroom, all his vent up frustrations, all his bottled up emotions were released in one huge gush, one tidal wave. He had hidden behind his smile so much that, even as Tsuna had willingly lent him a shoulder to cry on, years of disuse had taken away his ability to even express his emotions properly.

But, even though no tears were released, as Yamamoto had held onto that scrawny, tiny boy, he felt as if he was being purified, as if all his feelings were being purged, leaving him, finally, finally, pure, untainted.

As a celebrity, he had to lock away all his true emotions and he had had to lie behind fake smiles- so much that he had forgotten who he truly was, before he had gotten famous. Baseball, his one true love, had been his way to release all his emotions, on the field, where he knew he could not, and would not be judged during a game. He could never be hated by baseball after all. So, when he had found out that his injury might result in him not playing ever again, he was devastated, and without any way to vent his emotions, added with the feeling of being a failure, of letting his team down, he had finally broken.

His mask had finally cracked.

But now…now his complex feelings have been released, and he finally realized who he was, who he is.

He was just the boy with the goofy smile who had a love for baseball and a hate for schoolwork.

He was the boy with the greatest sushi-making, swordsman father in the whole wide world and the boy who loved that same father dearly.

But now, he was something more.

He was the boy who had a new thing to protect, something he hadn't had before.

He was now the boy with a wonderful friend named Tsuna.

Beginning to drift into the most peaceful sleep he had had in ages, Yamamoto closed his eyes sleepily.

_The shards have been removed, but the wounds have not yet healed. _

_But maybe, just maybe, just like the cuts on my hand…_

…_the wounds in my heart will eventually heal too. _

_Maybe, just maybe, healing the wounds in the heart…._

_May not be as impossible as everyone else thinks it is._

That night, Yamamoto Takeshi fell asleep with a tender smile on his lips.

_Maybe, just maybe…_

_Nothing in this world is impossible after all._

To be continued…

Another chapter typed out! WHEW!

Yamamoto was DEFINITELY OOC in this one, but I've always felt that Yamamoto's smile was never really _genuine_, perhaps because he smiles so much…It just lessens the credibility, I think.

The only times I've seen Yamamoto smile, really smile, is when he's with Tsuna…or maybe that's my fangirl viewpoint…

I don't know why Yamamoto is, presumably, like that, in the manga, but I can make the reason why _this_ Yamamoto is like that, so why not?

Even though I made Yamamoto emo, I still hope readers will like this chapter!

Notes: Daijoubu means "Are you alright?" I think, so yeah, that's what it means.

Ja ne!


	8. Snow

OHMIGOSH! SO SO EXCITED! Jackie Chan (my personal idol) was at the closing ceremony!

My friend lent me her laptop to work with in exchange for me buying whatever she wants to on the Snack Street in Beijing. And now I think this is not a good idea if her previous bursts of evil laughter and bottomless stomach are anything to go by. Yes, this is not good.

Ah well, I'll deal.

Before I start the chapter, here's a piece of advice to all students: Do well in school, join the foreign exchange student program, and I PROMISE you that it is all going to be worth it. (This trip cost me virtually nothing, even though the Olympics are going on.)

To start off the chapter…

OMG! MICHAEL PHELPS! (NEED I SAY MORE?!) WOOOOO!!

x.x.SimplicityisKey.x.x

Chapter Eight: Snow Cave Blitz

Tsuna's version of a perfect, ideal day did not entail being sandwiched between two people with a bowl of steaming hot miso soup in one hand, and a Styrofoam cup of coffee in the other.

But, there he was, on Mount Fuji, situated in between a fat, portly man and a thin, reedy bony woman.

He sighed.

It had all begun that morning at exactly four o' clock in the morning.

Hibari had stormed into his room (he hadn't installed a new lock yet), and demanded that he wake up right that moment or else he would be bitten to death.

He then traversed to the great oak doors of Tsuna's new closet, where all his clothes were kept.

Throwing a wooly, thick long-sleeved black shirt at Tsuna, followed by a black, puffy vest, and thick baggy, waterproof black pants at Tsuna, he had commanded Tsuna to dress quickly and immediately, and Tsuna, terrified, had dressed at the speed of light, grit still in his eyes.

He was just rushing out the door to his room when he was also nailed in the head by a pair of chunky snow boots, and then buried beneath a puffy, orange down jacket, along with two black woolen mittens with a white inscription (the number 27) on the back of them.

Then, he had been hauled roughly onto a helicopter on top of the mansion after having put on the proffered articles of clothing, where he was then informed of the situation in just a few words.

Today, it seemed, was Hibari's day to test Tsuna. However, an emergency meeting had been called relating to Hibari's work, and they had to head over to Mount Fuji.

According to Hibari, the director had had a sudden inspiration to create a particular action scene there for some reason.

The helicopter had dropped them on the foot of the mountain, unable to drop them higher up on the mountain, which was where their destination truly was.

At this time of the year, Mount Fuji was covered in snow, and at the escalation that the director wished for, the helicopter's rotator blades would be frozen since the air is particularly thinner at high altitudes, and so there is not enough to keep the helicopter safely suspended in the air.

In fact, it would be quite hazardous to go up to the height that they were going to in a helicopter- the chance that the helicopter would crash was significantly high.

This being so, Hibari and Tsuna had had to then take a car up there, after purchasing breakfast (just the miso soup and coffee and a croissant for Tsuna as well) and that was that.

It was a miracle that Tsuna hadn't thrown up his croissant during that extremely rough ride.

Tsuna let out a puff of air and watched as the misty grey smoke twirled in the air for a minute before dissipating.

Giggling, he pretended to be Gokudera, bored.

The crew members and actors were still preparing for the scene and nothing was to be seen but a mass of moving blurs and lights.

Since, this early in the morning, it was still dark.

The ruddy man to the left of him gave a little grunt and shifted his weight on his right leg, consequently leaning a bit more toward Tsuna, making him uncomfortable.

Despite the cold weather, he was simply dressed in a gray suit, white dress shirt, and plain black tie. White hair rimmed the back of his head, but the crown remained shiny and bald. His mustache was thick and gray and curled from under his nose dramatically.

Still, he remained, amazingly, warm. In fact, little beads of sweat had collected on the elder's forehead and upper lip, and he now wiped a flowery handkerchief over his face.

This man was Mr. Sazuki, the director for this particular film.

To the right of him stood Mrs. Chikage, the secretary of the aforementioned director in question. She was middle-aged, at the very least, but she seemed so much older. Her skin was already wrinkled, she had bags under her eyes, and her auburn hair was streaked with white. Even her make-up couldn't help cover up the unmistakable tiredness in her green eyes, which had already become muted with the grayness of cataract, no longer vivid with life and youth.

She was dressed in a gray business suit as well- though she only had on a white dress shirt and a gray business-like skirt. She had on dark pantyhose, and her feet were clad in shiny, polished black shoes.

However, unlike Mr. Sazuki, she appeared unprepared for the cold, as if she had been whisked away to this location before she had time to ready herself, which, of course, in this particular situation, seemed to be the likely case.

Presently, Mrs. Chikage was busy scribbling something hurriedly upon the stack of paper on her clipboard whilst her body shook uncontrollably and her teeth chattered unceasingly. Silver-rimmed glasses slipped down her nose, and, annoyed, she pushed them up again in one jerky movement. For a minute, she tried to continue writing a moment, before she gave up, as her hands couldn't keep still, and her pale, slender, albeit bony fingers appeared stiff and unable to curl around the sleek, black and gold ballpoint pen, and stuck the pen into her tight bun.

Feeling concerned for the poor woman, Tsuna was starting to take off his jacket and offer it to her, but a dark blur came flying out of nowhere at the woman before he could.

Deftly, almost as if she had been expecting it, the woman caught it. For a minute, Tsuna could only ponder at the seemingly elderly woman's quick reaction.

It took a moment to realize that the jacket had been the one Hibari was wearing earlier.

Surprised at this gesture of kindness from the normally violent and obtrusive Hibari, who only threatened to bite others to death, Tsuna whipped his head around to where the jacket had come from.

Sure enough, Hibari was there, standing in his usually uncaring posture.

But unlike always, Tsuna's breath caught in his throat and his eyes widened in wonder as he caught sight of Hibari amidst the glaring lights.

Hibari was dressed in a black mesh shirt, and over that, a leather jacket with the collar turned up. Leather gloves covered his hands, and he wore accompanying leather pants and shoes. His hair was styled to fall enticingly into his fierce, yet cold eyes slightly, and even from far away, Tsuna could tell that his eyes were lined with black kohl, furthering the "eye effect".

And that was what rendered Tsuna breathless in that brief moment.

Normally, Hibari's eyes were covered by his bangs, and he, Tsuna noticed during his stay, loathed to make eye contact for long, unless he intended to kill you that is. Thankfully, he was never on the receiving end of that stare- usually, it was Mukuro who took the hit.

But now, with his eyes visible, he felt as if those icy blue-grey eyes were piercing into his soul, his heart, leaving him with, not an unpleasant feeling, but rather, a pleasant tingling sensation throughout his body that left him trembling.

It was exhilarating.

Suddenly, Hibari turned his way, and jerking away from his trance, flushing, he turned to look at the secretary again.

She had put on the jacket, which fell to her ankles. Smiling, she hugged her clipboard to her chest and snickered when Hibari turned away, annoyed.

"That boy is always like that." She turned to Tsuna conversationally.

Tsuna smiled back. He could see that Mrs. Chikage must have been one pretty woman when she was young.

She regarded Tsuna speculatively.

"You know, Hibari usually doesn't bring anyone up on these shoots with him."

Tsuna waved his hands in front of his face and shook his head.

"Ah! It's not like that! I-"

"You know, that kid, he never used to bring anyone along- no managers, no nothing, which is why no manager lasted long with him…" She continued as if she didn't hear him.

Tsuna wanted to protest again, but seeing the suddenly sad look in her eyes, he stopped.

"He always came alone, by himself…but, you know, I'm glad…"

Mrs. Chikage clamped a hand on Tsuna's shoulders.

"I know you're not exactly their official manager yet…but…ganbatte, ne?"

Pinning Tsuna with a knowing look, she then strolled into the bustle of the working crew members to direct the workers and sort out the chaos that was starting to brew.

Tsuna let out a defeated half sigh, half laugh.

_Okay, Chikage-san. I will._

x.sometimes.life.is.hard.but.if.we.give.it.our.all.we.will.never.regret.it.x

Chikage Mayu had been taking care of Hibari for as long as she could remember. As a former social agent, Hibari had been one of the many children that she had taken around to the many foster homes out there.

And yet, Hibari had been different from the other children.

No matter where he went, he refused to make friends, and he was consistently a very violent child, making him unwanted by most.

He had been carted around homes until he was finally of age, and even then, he had left his last foster home on a bad note.

Yet, having spent so much time with the irritable child, Chikage had gotten used to his temperament, and though he always kept that scowl firmly on his face, Chikage knew, after spending so much time with him, that, he too, at the very least, tolerated and appreciated her company.

But, in the end, Chikage knew that Hibari was still so very lonely inside.

She knew that the reason why Hibari remained so difficult was not because it was in his personality, not because he wanted to cause trouble for everyone.

It was because he was searching for a place where he could truly belong.

Despite his callous attitude, Chikage realized soon enough that it was just a front- so that the feelings of his foster parents wouldn't be hurt much when he left- so that they would actually be glad when he did.

So, when Hibari left, she had followed, concerned about the boy who she now looked after like her own son.

This, in turn, brought her into the entertainment business.

Of course, it was impossible for her to be with him every second of the day, but by being the secretary of the director who sought out Hibari for most of his movies, it was very comforting to know that she could see him, at least, every once in a while.

And at first, Chikage thought that Hibari had finally found his calling- being in action movies.

But she had confused _belonging_ with _talent_.

For, though Hibari appeared content with his work, Chikage soon realized that, in the end, he was still searching, still lonely.

And it hurt even more when she knew that she wasn't the one Hibari belonged with.

Not married, and without a son, Hibari was the one person who she held close to her heart.

It hurt that she knew her "son" was hurting, and there was nothing she could do about it.

So, when she met Sawada Tsunayoshi, and looked at the eyes through which Hibari looked at the amber-eyed male through, she just _knew_ with that maternal instinct of hers, curling through her gut with a certainty she had never experienced before.

She knew that he was the one.

_So, please Tsunayoshi-kun…_

…_Please don't let him be lonely ever again._

x.a.mother's.instinct.is.a.powerful.thing.x

What made Hibari such a successful actor was not only his skills as a martial artist, his looks, or anything like that.

What made him so successful was simply his overwhelming charisma, the imposing presence that was Hibari Kyouya.

Sawada Tsunayoshi figured this out that snowy day on Mount Fuji.

The action scene had long since been done with, but Tsuna was still staring, wide-eyed, at the now-empty, wide expanse of snow.

In his mind's eye, he could still see Hibari, quick as lightning, flickering here and there, sending a high kick at some poor actor's head, a punch to that other one.

But he saw, most vividly, the pale slackness of Hibari's face, lips turned up into a dangerous smirk, eyes glinting purple and silver and blue, magnetic with a swirl of high-charged emotions.

Hibari made danger, perhaps even death, seem beautiful.

Tsuna was totally captivated.

Suddenly, a sharp voice cut through the air.

"What are you staring at, herbivore?"

Turning around, he faced Hibari, snapped out of his strange trance.

"Huh? Oh, nothing. I just…"

HIbari eased the empty Styrofoam cup out of Tsuna's hands.

"I'll be back," he murmured.

He headed toward the "base encampment" to throw the cup out.

"Oh! Ah, wait!!"

HIbari turned around, glaring at Tsuna.

"What?"

"Um…" Tsuna paused. Inwardly he sighed- the special moment had gone- and the old, scary Hibari was back. He was back to being the masked Hibari, whose true emotions would only show when he was fighting.

"Your miso soup…" Tsuna said weakly, bringing the long-cold bowl out in front of him.

He'd tried to keep it warm with his body heat, and now he brought it forth from his down jacket.

Hibari regarded him silently for a while before hesitantly extending his hand to receive the bowl.

"It's cold."

Hibari glared at him accusingly.

"Ah…sorry about that…"

He huffed.

"Whatever." And then he disappeared within their self-made "encampment".

Tsuna watched with wide eyes and a gaping mouth as Hibari stomped into the camp, as if mad.

"WAAAAAH!! I MESSED UP!" He screamed in his head, "I MADE HIM ANGRY! UWAHH! HE'S GONNA GET SOMETHING TO BEAT ME UP- AND THEN- AND THEN…"

While he was freaking out about his incoming death, raking his hands through his hair in frustration, Hibari came up behind him, an amused smirk upon his lips.

"Here."

Something warm dropped on top of his head, and Tsuna ceased panicking.

"Heh?" He paused, and then slowly, his fingers reached up and grabbed the dropped item on his head.

Inspecting it, he blinked once, then twice.

"Hot…chocolate?"

Hibari let out an irritated growl.

"You're cold right?"

Tsuna belatedly remembered shivering before.

Tsuna smiled at Hibari. "Thank you."

A strange flush came to Hibari's cheeks as he stared down at Tsuna, and Tsuna wondered if it was because of the biting cold.

Sharply, Hibari turned his head, and looked away.

Grabbing Tsuna's hand quickly, he pulled Tsuna after him.

"Work is done for today, but, since we're on Mount Fuji anyway, I would like to train a bit more."

The tone of his voice left no room for arguments.

But there was no need for that curt statement- Tsuna would have followed complacently anyway.

A soft smile still upon his lips, Tsuna thought about how to answer Hibari's previous question.

"_You're cold right?" _

_Am I cold?_

_No._

Tsuna fixed his eyes on their clasped hands.

_Not anymore._

.Did.you.know?.Snow.Is.A.Symbol.Of.Love.

An empty cup sat beside Tsuna on a fallen, rotting log. The two were currently in a clearing, surrounded by dead trees, who, despite their decaying bodies, still gave off a musty, fresh smell that usually eluded the two city boys in their oftentimes, pollutant-ridden city.

A bird somewhere whispered a happy tune, and then, with a flutter of its wings, it was gone, leaving the two boys in silence once again.

Hibari was still training, even though two hours had passed.

Tsuna did not tire of it however. Hibari never did more than one move twice, and he was fighting some unknown, imaginary enemy.

Though, with the familiar, intense scowl on Hibari's face, Tsuna could probably guess that Hibari was imagining biting Mukuro to death.

Tsuna laughed softly, not wanting to disrupt Hibari's intense concentration.

Sighing, he turned to face the sky.

Staring at the sky had always made him feel at peace- and he had always had a special affinity toward the heavens. For some weird reason, it had always reminded him of himself, which was strange as, how he saw it, he could never compare with the sheer greatness of the sky.

After all, the sky blanketed everything, protected everything, and without the sky, there would be nothing the clouds, the sun could appear in, and consequently, no storms, no rain, no mist, no lightning.

As if, Tsuna had often thought, he could ever be that important to anybody.

The sky now was at that stage where it was neither here or there. It was not clear summer blue, and not quite gray, as if a storm was about to hit. Though the sun was nowhere in sight, the sky today appeared more a brightness than a color.

Wincing, and unable to look at the glaring brightness for a moment longer, he averted his eyes and stared at the ground.

Gripped unsuspectingly with a need to sneeze, Tsuna couldn't stop the horrendous sneeze that escaped. The sound echoed around the clearing a few times before fading, but the damage was done.

Hibari whirled around to face Tsuna with a raised eyebrow as he tried to frantically tried to find something to wipe away the snot.

"How ungraceful." Hibari sighed.

Appearing by Tsuna's side in just a few short strides, he rummaged through his pockets and brought out a black handkerchief.

"Here."

Tsuna shook his head.

"I can't accept that." He replied, though his voice was a bit muffled through his mittens as he tried to hide behind it.

The handkerchief, after all, looked too pretty to be ruined with his nose fluids.

From what he could see, it was black silk, and a fleur-de-lis pattern was embroidered in silver around the square piece of cloth.

In the middle of this pattern, taking up much of the space on the cloth, was a magnificently sewn skylark.

Impatiently, Hibari wrought Tsuna's hands away from his face and slammed the handkerchief under this nose.

"GWAH!" Tsuna squawked indignantly before he fell over the log, head first.

"Go wipe your nose or I'll bite you to death."

Hurriedly, Tsuna did as commanded.

"I'm done!" Tsuna announced.

Simultaneously, Hibari leant forward, until his face was just inches from Tsuna's face.

Tsuna's cheeks became red, as if the ghost of HIbari's breath stained it so.

Hibari made a slight movement, and Tsuna instinctively flinched.

But Hibari hadn't reached back to hit Tsuna for their close proximity, but to get a scarf and a top-knit hat.

Tsuna thought that these looked a bit familiar, but he couldn't quite place a finger on who he had seen it on.

He didn't have time to ponder on this, though, because suddenly wrapping the scarf around his neck and the lower half of his face securely, and now he dumped the knitted hat unceremoniously on top of Tsuna's smaller head, causing it to droop down on his eyes, producing a somewhat comical, yet cute effect.

Still, Tsuna pushed the hat away from his eyes just in time to catch the look in his eyes. Hibari's blue-grey eyes had a previously absent purple light in them, and the look in his eyes made Tsuna uneasy.

The look…almost seemed like one of dejection?

It was with a jolt that Tsuna realized it was sadness; and that it was caused by none other than himself.

The light was already fading from Hibari's eyes, and Tsuna could already tell Hibari was withdrawing to a place deep inside himself again.

In one flickering movement, Tsuna lashed out his hand and grabbed onto Hibari's arm to keep him from retreating.

"I-I…"

Tsuna shook a bit.

"Are you still cold?" Hibari asked. The words itself hinted at caring, but his demeanor and his eyes…all of them was back into their cold, indifferent stance.

It was a stance that was so terribly lonely.

"No…" Tsuna whispered, bangs shadowing his eyes.

"Hn? Then, should we head back-?"

"NO!" Tsuna suddenly shouted.

Surprised by the sudden and extremely uncharacteristic interjection, Hibari stumbled back a few steps.

Tsuna stood up in one swift movement and strode over to Hibari, staring up into his eyes desperately.

"You're wrong!"

Hibari could only stare.

"Y-you're not unwanted!"

A blank expression took over Hibari's face; he could see where this was going now.

"Oh, I see. Shall we head-"

"Not everyone is scared of you!"

"As if you have the right to say that!" Hibari snapped coldly.

"It's not like that! It's different!"

"How so?!" Hibari laughed cruelly. "Can you honestly tell me that you didn't flinch because you thought that I was going to hit you?"

"No." Tsuna replied honestly. "But it's different."

Hibari's face suddenly relaxed, as if everything didn't matter anymore.

"Whatever." His tone clearly stated that this discussion was over.

He wouldn't listen anymore, Tsuna realized.

So, Tsuna did the first thing that came to mind in order to catch Hibari off guard, to make sure he had Hibari's full and unwavering attention.

Tsuna rushed after Hibari, who was already half-way across the clearing, spun Hibari around to face him, and grabbed Hibari's face in his hands, bringing him down to his level.

Then, of course, he kissed him.

It was not a long kiss; in fact, it was short and clumsy, but it gained the desired reaction.

For a minute, Hibari just stood there, staring at Tsuna with an open-mouthed expression.

"I won't say that I didn't flinch because I thought you were going to hit me, because then I would be lying. But, it's different."

Tsuna licked his lips nervously, tasting mint.

"I…" Tsuna tried searching for the right words to describe what he was feeling.

Finally, he sighed, defeated, unable to come up with anything to describe what he truly meant.

"I am scared of getting hit and getting hurt…but I'm not scared of _you_, of _Hibari Kyouya_."

Tsuna squeezed Hibari's hand, hoping he would understand.

And he did. But he refused to believe it.

It scared him to think that he had allowed himself to feel and believe in this boy, this man who he had just met a few fateful days ago.

The idea that he had become soft, that he was no longer in control, that he actually, on some level, trusted this person before him terrified him.

Because that no longer made him invincible- it made him feeling more vulnerable than ever.

No matter how he wanted to belong somewhere, he was too afraid of being hurt. So, even as a child, he had always drifted from place to place, like a lonesome cloud, unrestrained, free, safe- because he had no attachments and didn't have to care about what anyone thought of him.

But when Tsuna encircled his arms around his waist and laid his head on his chest, Hibari allowed himself to relax in those arms.

Tsuna didn't have to say anything. That small gesture was enough.

_I won't betray you._

_It's okay._

_You don't have to trust me, but I'll trust you._

It spoke of all the things Hibari wanted to hear ever since he was orphaned, and Hibari couldn't help but believe in those words.

_You don't have to be with me, but I'll never leave you._

_You don't have to be at my side, but I'll always be there for you._

_I'll accept you no matter what…forever._

Hibari still didn't want to accept the concept of belonging somewhere, of being chained to one spot, to one person but….

…as he bathed in the warmth that Tsuna provided him, he figured that…

_It's fine…if I just return to him every once in a while…_

But…just this one time…

Hibari slowly raised his hands and hugged Tsuna back, bringing him even closer to him.

He would allow himself to delude himself with the illusion that, in truth, he did actually belong right here, with this boy.

-.x.-

Unwilling to break the moment, but knowing that they would freeze to death if they didn't move soon in this elevation, Tsuna broke away from Hibari's surprisingly warm body.

"We should really be going now or we'll freeze to death." Tsuna laughed nervously, cheeks flushing in embarrassment as the true meaning of what he had done smacked him upside the head.

Scratching his cheek awkwardly, Tsuna turned around and started walking in no particular direction.

The truth was, he had no idea where to go now, but he couldn't even look at Hibari without blushing anymore.

"Oi, herbivore."

Startled, Tsuna turned around as a matter of habit.

"Ha-?"

HIbari swooped down and captured Tsuna's lips before he could react.

Too shocked to even move, Tsuna just let himself be kissed, thinking it would be just like their first one, but it was anything but.

Hibari carefully pried open Tsuna's mouth and slid his tongue in languidly without much resistance while goading Tsuna to wrap his arms around his neck.

Tsuna soon consented, closing his eyes as he got lost in the feel of Hibari's lips against his.

Holding Tsuna by the waist, Hibari brought him even closer to him.

The kiss wasn't heated and it wasn't short, but it spoke of gentle feelings and a beginning sense of trust.

Still, the kiss left Tsuna glassy-eyed, flushed, dazed, panting, and flushed when they finally parted for air.

Knocking his own forehead against Tsuna's, he smirked.

"Pay-back." He breathed.

Then he walked away toward the encampment.

Amusedly, he heard Tsuna scrambling after him.

Touching his fingers to his lips, he grinned.

_He tastes like chocolate._

He let out a soft chuckle.

Tsuna finally caught up to him, and side by side, they walked through the snow.

Overhead, the sky opened.

And snow began to fall.

-.x.-

I read somewhere that snow symbolized love or the beginning of love, so I thought that it would be fitting to add it here.

Well, I hoped you liked it! And oh god, Hibari was such a pain to write! I love him a lot (not as much as Tsuna) but WAH!

Hibari fans, I implore you. Please don't kill me! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!

Finally, how much I bet you guys thought Hibari and Mukuro would be the last to melt? Huh? Huh?

Well, they are not obviously. Hahaha…

Mukuro's next! (But I probably won't be able to update for a month or so again, so until then!)

I'm such an evil person. MUAHAHAHAHA!


	9. Of Pineapples and Tunas

Hello! I said that I would be back after a month right? Well, haha… It's obviously been more than that since the last time I updated but, well, I know I have no excuse, but the work came flooding in, man.

In any case, I'm back? Aren't you glad to see me again? Oh my god, I totally deserved to be pegged.

Thanks for all the support guys. I'll keep this short.

-*-*-*-

Chapter Nine: Of Pineapples and Tuna

After what had transgressed the day before, Tsuna had been understandably tired when he finally came home and had slept like a log as soon as his head had hit the pillow.

Now, as the sunlight streamed in through the satiny curtains that rustled from a slight breeze that cool, brisk morning, Tsuna didn't want to open his eyes and witness the world once again to begin another day.

Snuggling deep into the warmest pillow he'd had in a while, he sighed contentedly, and breathed in a scent that was surprisingly similar to…pineapples?

Understandably, the next thought that followed was, "THE HECK?!" His alarm only served to escalate when the "pillow" uttered a soft groan, and it moved to put its arm around his own shoulders.

It was at this point that Tsuna remembered, through his sleep-dazed mind that pillows in his world DID NOT HAVE ARMS.

It was also at this point that Tsuna felt another supposed "pillow" at his back, and was thus, extremely freaked out…especially when that pillow, too, shifted to encase Tsuna with one very well-muscled arm.

And it was only at this point that Tsuna finally snapped out of the small lapse of morning grogginess…which, as in everything he did, only served to worsen the situation.

Screaming, Tsuna jumped out of his bed, and with the element of surprise, managed to throw both arms away from him, where he then proceeded to grab the nearest sharpened projectile, ready to aim should the need call for it.

Slowly, the two "pillows" opened their eyes…and came to face to face with each other.

The readers may well imagine the carnage that was impending after the two rivals, Mukuro and Hibari came face to face with each other after realizing that the other had been sleeping next to what theirs, and that, god forbid, they had all been sleeping on the same bed.

Fortunately, a very _manly_ shriek, for sure, stopped the two from ripping out each other's throat just in time.

"WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU DOING IN MY BED?!"

Mukuro's eyes suddenly did a failed attempt at widening, and putting his index finger to his lips to try to assume a cute and innocent gesture, he said, "I-I was s-scared at night so…"

In a very uncharacteristic way, and both angered and muddled by his unpleasant shock-induced wakeup call this morning, Tsuna grumbled, with a twitchy, temper-ridden face, "Mukuro, you and I both know that YOU are the nightmare of every kid in the universe."

A corner of Mukuro's lip twitched up into sadistic smirk.

"Oh right."

"And you!" Tsuna rounded on Hibari.

"What, pray tell," Tsuna started sweetly, "Brings YOU into my bed at night?"

Mukuro opened his mouth to say something perverted but Tsuna turned toward him with threatening eyes.

"And if you say something like your tight ass, I WILL castrate you." He held up and shook his weapon for emphasis.

But Hibari, the survival expert that he was, had used this chance to quickly escape from the room.

Even he knew that, when in danger, the prey could be scarier than the predator.

Needless to say, by the end of that morning, Tsuna had succeeded in sending Mukuro flying off the second floor out of his window to escape his wrath.

…

At least that was what Tsuna wished he had had the guts to say- instead, he had just got his weapon when he had seen the murderous look upon the faces of the two esteemed rivals and had promptly gotten himself out of there.

This was a wise choice, as his whole room was totaled in less than a second.

He sighed as he landed on the floor after tripping down the staircase in his attempt to escape injury.

Gokudera would have to get him a new room again.

This time, preferably with a moat, a ravenous lion, and other such blood thirsty creatures standing and titanium doors with seven different locks protecting him from any outside invasion. (1)

-.-.-.-.-

Humming, Tsuna finished making the last of the breakfast for what he deemed his friends, now, despite their eccentricities.

Placing the steaming plate of bacon and eggs on the satin blue table-cloth over the mahogany table, he sighed and took off a frilly pink apron.

Someone had the audacity to burn all the other aprons available in the household, forcing him to wear this atrocity.

Tsuna pursed his lips, annoyed. He didn't even have to guess who did _THAT._

Surveying the table, he checked off what the other occupants of the household had told him they wanted the night before.

Lambo and Ryohei, as usual, were at home with their own families.

But a huge stack of pancakes, all dribbled over with maple syrup sat steaming and hot for Gokudera, who, surprisingly, had quite a sweet tooth. A white mug filled with black coffee was placed beside this meal. Beside that was a bowl of oatmeal and salad for Yamamoto, who needed to eat especially healthy for maximum recovery. Located noticeably distant from the rest of the meals, Hibari's breakfast, as usual, consisted of his customary miso soup and a traditional Japanese breakfast.

As for Mukuro, a pineapple and tuna sandwich, cut into neat triangles was accompanied by a bowl of warm milk with honey.

Tsuna sighed. Lately, all of Mukuro's requests had things to do with pineapples and tunas. Honestly, Tsuna didn't know what to make of it, but it did, indeed, freak him out.

Not even having to call, the four other occupants of the household streamed down the staircase, two of which were accessorized with swollen cheeks and black eyes.

Tsuna let a small smile grace his face as Gokudera shouted out one of his overly friendly greetings.

Another day had begun.

-.-.-.-.-

Scenery flashed past as the blue Cadillac sped down the highway. Some creepy song, which Tsuna belatedly realized was "Sha Shou" by JJ Lin was playing on the radio, and Mukuro was tapping his slender fingers against the steering wheel of the car while bobbing his head up and down.

Tsuna considered it completely unfair that such a whack job was graced with such grace and fluid movements that he even seemed sophisticated while doing such an elementary gesture.

Tsuna knew that, had he done the same thing, he would have been labeled as not only an idiot, but probably a drug addict as well. It was frankly a bit annoying. Why were some people blessed with everything while others were left to their own devices?

"That aside, today's weather is great." Tsuna muttered to himself.

Thin, flimsy slivers of white cotton clouds were the only things that dotted the otherwise summer blue sky, and the air was deceptively fresh and hinting at spring, though it had just turned autumn, and the comforting smell that came after a night of rain was carried in the wind that now whipped Tsuna's hair as he rolled down the window of the car to take a deep breath.

Today, at breakfast, it had been announced that it was Mukuro's turn to "test" Tsuna.

And given the first ordeal he had been forced to pass, it was painfully obvious to Tsuna that Mukuro would be his greatest obstacle to pass, just from the order that he had given Tsuna the last time.

Tsuna remembered of course, that, by far, Mukuro had been the most relentless in his order.

Even now, he shivered just thinking about it, and truly, it had no relation to the cold air that nipped at him.

It didn't help that the psycho next to him had started to laugh that weird laugh of his.

"So, Tsunayoshi-kun, where would you like to go to today?"

Tsuna opened his mouth to utter a suggestion but was promptly interrupted.

"Oh!" Mukuro gasped in that false, annoying feminine way.

"I have the most _splendid _idea!"

Tsuna paled.

_This does NOT bode well for me._

-.-.-.-.-

Sure enough, thirty minutes later had Tsuna puking his guts out as soon as he stepped out of the car.

"Ara, Tsunayoshi-kun, surely, it could not have been THAT bad."

_No, of course not…it was simply SPLENDID as you would say. ANYONE would enjoy going at 100 miles per hour over numerous hills and bumps in the road. Oh yes, it is simply SPLENDID. _

But, of course, Tsuna did not say that. He could only shape his lips into a strained smile.

Making his way to a nearby drinking fountain, he rinsed his mouth, Mukuro following behind with a jaunty skip in his step and a smirk, unnoticed by Tsuna.

"Anyway, Tsunayoshi-_kun_ I just KNOW that you are going to enjoy where we have come!"

An eager light shone in the taller man's eyes.

_Oh good lord._

Slowly raising his eyes up to the entrance way from the parking lot they were in, Tsuna gulped.

He didn't know whether he should be thankful that he had already emptied out his stomach of his breakfast or not.

But what he did know was that he would be doing a lot more puking.

The archway before them, decorated with eye-catching colors of gold, and orange, and neon pink and glow-in-the-dark green and surrounded by various cartoon characters that, with their huge eyes and too-wide grins had scared Tsuna as a child, read the words, "Spanner's Amusement Park".

-.-.-.-.-.-

Spanner's Amusement Park was actually part of a larger company, the Millefiore Company. Like Vongola Corporations, they too, dealt with the entertainment business, as with celebrities and the like, primarily, but they also lingered on other means of business. This included such businesses that dealt with such things as amusement parks.

This was not because they had forced themselves to be able to do this; in reality, it was more because it would be a waste not to put their highly advanced team of technological experts to a profitable use.

Of this highly esteemed team, there was one particular genius, who, to many, is simply known as Spanner. Known for designing one of the most modern and up-to-date technologies in the world, the Millefiore had raised up several amusement parks in his name, all of the rides, of which, had been personally designed by Spanner.

Every year, the amusement parks raked in a lot of money for just one sole reason.

This reason being that all the rides in the park were usually one of the most thrilling in the whole world, for all the advanced technologies enabled the maximum amount of enjoyment.

And thus, this amusement park was Tsuna's nightmare. It embodied everything that he absolutely hated as a natural born coward.

Tsuna gulped.

It was time to pull out the big guns.

"Um, Mukuro-san?"

"Yes?" Mukuro replied, a wide smile on his face.

"Why are we going here?"

"TO HAVE FUN OF COURSE!"

"But, isn't this part of the Miliefiore company? Wouldn't it be wrong of us to become customers to them, when the Vongola and the Milliefiore are supposed to be rivals?

Mukuro smirked.

"Sawada, Sawada, Sawada…" He made disapproving clicking noises with his tongue.

"You see, that is precisely why we are going here." Unable to stop himself, Mukuro let a small evil smile twist his lips, and Tsuna realized too late that he had already fallen into Mukuro's trap.

_Well, shit._

"See, as rivals, we must know everything about the other side. And, as the actual entertainer cannot do that, guess whose job is it to spy on the other company? The manager, of course! So this will determine your worth as a manager, and will be a crucial factor in your possible official hire."

Mukuro laughed.

"So make sure you remember every single detail of the park, ok?"

Grabbing Tsuna's hand, Mukuro led a resistant Tsuna into the park with a jaunty swagger.

Tsuna whimpered.

_Save me!_

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

To prevent anyone from recognizing him, Mukuro had donned large black sun glasses and let down his hair from his characteristic "pineapple-like" hair, and now, his hair rested at the nape of his neck in a low ponytail. Dressed charismatically in a leather jacket and a tight white mesh shirt underneath, accompanied by leather boots and pants, he proved a sharp contrast to the plainly dressed boy tripping after him as he led the way deeper into the amusement park. Other people in the park, too busy puking their guts out after a particularly exciting ride or having too much fun, did not notice the conspicuous couple interweaving through the crowd.

"Ne, Mukuro-san? Where are we going now?" Tsuna asked numbly, as if he didn't care.

The two had already gone on almost half the rides in the amusement park and the first few times, Tsuna had already gotten rid of all the breakfast left in his stomach. It didn't help that the first few rides were one of the most…_thrilling_ of the rides in the amusement park. So, obviously, by this time Tsuna was pretty apathetic to everything. His soul had gone flying out of his mouth as soon as he had experienced that steep drop on the "King of the Hill" ride anyway.

_Oh god._

The simple thought of that ride made him want to retch.

While Tsuna was immersed in his painful reminiscing Mukuro did not answer but continued to pull Tsuna along. Five minutes later, they came to a stop in front of the scariest rides that Tsuna had ever seen.

Mukuro confirmed what he was thinking.

"This is the last of the most popular rides here. The rest are for kiddies and elderly people." He smiled. "And those would be hardly interesting to go on, right?"

He paused, and then cast a sly glance at Tsuna.

"Don't worry….you won't be bored, Tsunayoshi-kun. This ride is rated the most thrilling in the entire world."

Tsuna refrained from fainting.

Mukuro barely stopped himself from giggling evilly.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

The line was long for the ride, "Haunted Villa", twisting long lines around other rides in the vicinity of it. Dazedly, Tsuna was surprised to note that the whole line might have stretched approximately two miles.

Casting a side long glance at Mukuro beside him, he wondered if the man was seriously intent on going on this ride, despite the impending long wait. To Tsuna's great despair, however, the look in Mukuro's eyes sent his heart plummeting down to his stomach. The man was serious.

The couple reached the end of the line and Tsuna mentally prepared himself for more than an hour of mind-blowing boredom.

He was diverted from his thoughts, though, when Mukuro's grip on his hand tightened. Jolting slightly, his head jerked up to look at Mukuro. Lowering his glasses a bit, Mukuro winked at Tsuna.

Tsuna's eyes widened as he gulped and a sense of trepidation washed over him.

_What is he going to do NOW?_

As if sensing Tsuna's thoughts, Mukuro grinned eerily at him again, and signaled with his head to indicate that he "watch and learn" from him.

Taking a deep breath, Mukuro suddenly started to expel a threatening, deadly aura.

Tsuna watched with morbid fascination as the person in front of them suddenly shivered and slowly turned around, his curiosity getting the better of him, the hair at the nape of his neck standing on end.

He promptly screamed his heart out as his eyes met Mukuro's, and ran away from Mukuro into the midst and safety of the crowds. Attracted by this spectacle, the people in the vicinity turned around to look at what had caused the man to scream like that.

Less than a second later, the others were sent screaming, running in all directions, away from Mukuro too.

Mukuro galloped sideways up to newly formed end of the line, half the length it was before, and smiled at Tsuna, motioning for him to join him.

Shakily, Tsuna had no other choice than to comply.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

It was exactly one hour, twenty-one minutes, two seconds, and one fourth of a millisecond later since Mukuro had terrified the majority of the people off the line, and they were still inching along.

Having known Mukuro for only a week, Tsuna could pretty much guess that the only reason why Mukuro hadn't already scared away the rest of the people already was simply because he enjoyed watching Tsuna suffer.

Well, it was certainly working.

Under the relentless rays of the afternoon sun, and with the wind battering against him, Tsuna was incredibly bored out of his mind. There was nothing to do.

But at the same time, he wasn't quite suicidal enough to talk to Mukuro yet, of all people.

He sighed, reaching up to brush a stray piece of his chocolate brown hair out of his eyes.

_This is killing me-!_

His thoughts were cut off at this exact moment when suddenly, Mukuro's hand darted out and encircled Tsuna's wrist, using the momentum to spin Tsuna into Mukuro's arms.

"I'm bored~" Mukuro whined.

"Play with me~"

Tsuna sighed, and, adopting the tone he often used with mischievous children in the day care center he used to work out, said, "And what would you like to play, Mukuro-san?"

"Don't patronize me!" Mukuro exclaimed, putting an expression of mock-anger on.

"Yes, yes…" Tsuna sighed, exasperated.

Mukuro put his finger to his lips, pretending to give his previous question some thought.

"Oh! I know!" He whipped out his dark blue HAPTIC cell phone.

"Let's play a game on this!" Mukuro pressed a series of buttons on his cell phone, then turned the screen towards Tsuna so he could see it.

"Let's play this one!"

A drop of sweat rolled down the side of Tsuna's cheek.

"Hunting down the Great Big Tuna?"

"YEP!" Mukuro proclaimed exuberantly, not, in the least bit, affected by the extremely queer name that glowed neon yellow and flashed in the beat of the corny background music of the game.

Having attracted various glances from the loud exclamations of Mukuro, Tsuna decided to relent and humor his employer.

He sighed a bit, and smiled faintly.

"How do we play this?"

Mukuro's grin stretched three times its size at Tsuna's defeat, and with a wide, yet graceful gesture, Mukuro's arms wrapped around the slight boy.

"Well, let's begin, shall we?"

Tsuna just ducked his head and blushed furiously in answer.

-.-.-.-.-

Perspiration rolled down the side of Tsuna's face.

A concentrated look creased his eyebrows and his face flushed with determination.

"Grgh…."

A pink tongue swiped over luscious lips nervously.

"Nnn…"

Up, down, in, out, and…YES! YES! YES!

"Ah!"

Tsuna slumped down and then let out a strangled scream of frustration.

"HRAGGGGHHHH!!!!"

The cell phone screen in his hand flashed red, and a high monotonous voice called out, "MISSION FAILED. MISSION FAILED. MISSION FAILED."

Tsuna was usually not very competitive-but when it came to games, something that he was relatively good at, he simply _hated _losing. After all, to him, it was his only good point.

So, the fact that he still couldn't beat Mukuro's high score for such a stupid game, was very vexing indeed for him.

"Damn it!" He spouted, the angry flush in his cheeks growing brighter with every interminable minute he had to endure until his final victory.

"I _will_ beat you, damn it!"

Tsuna turned to Mukuro, eyes blazing.

Mukuro returned his fierce gaze with steady intensity, and smiled offhandedly.

"That's all well and good, but hold on tightly to my phone for me, alright?"

Mukuro grabbed Tsuna's hands tightly around his cell phone.

"Eh? Wh-AYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY??????????!!!!!!"

-.-.-.-.-

Tsuna was NEVER going to play games while waiting on line for an amusement park ride ever again.

NEVER.

As soon as they had gotten off the ride, which Tsuna had obliviously gotten onto whilst absorbed in the cell phone game, Mukuro had collapsed onto the floor in a convulsion of giggles, then hacking coughs, as he started to lose breath.

Meanwhile, Tsuna stood there, eyes vacant and blank, staring at nothing, mouth gaping, with his skin retaining its death-like pallid complexion, which had developed half-way through the ride, when he had fainted shortly.

Mukuro's cell phone was clutched in a death grip in his hand, before his chest, as if the cell phone was a rosary.

Mukuro regained his composure, still chuckling softly.

He then made his way to the area where the pictures taken during the ride was, and promptly began rolling on the floor again, tears streaming from his eyes.

"OH BY THE DEVIL…..AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

He righted himself again.

"I am most definitely getting that."

All Tsuna could do was stare at the sky, and think, "Never; never again."

Mukuro obtained the picture he wanted from the flirtatious female worker at the counter, who was busy patting his arm and fluttering her eyelashes at him, and carefully inserted it into his wallet, a small, almost unnoticeable smile upon his lips.

Gently detaching his arm from the drooling woman, with a deep, "Excuse me, madam." he made his way over to Tsuna, and led the still-not-quite-there boy away from the scene, who followed like a zombie.

After all, there was still much more fun to be had.

-.-.-.-

Mukuro managed to revive the poor boy to some extent with a box of takoyaki.

For the remainder of their time in the amusement park, they wandered around the other part of it, in which things were set up as a carnival- a festival, if you will.

Stalls, most of them wooden, created lines upon lines of game booths. People milled around these makeshift barracks, immersed with the fun to be had.

Tsuna flitted to stall to stall, taking in the scents and the sounds. He never remained still for a moment- that is, until he laid his sights upon one particular stand.

"AH!" He rushed towards it and crouched down, where he came face to face with a half filled trough made of dark wood, half-filled with crystalline water, in which sparkling golden fish swam in frenzy to and fro.

There were a whole pile of various ladles in a heap on a chair by the trough, and two ladles rested, with the scoop-part of the ladle, on the rim of the trough. The handles and rim for these "scoops" were a plastic orange, and from the rim, a scoop was formed with white rice paper.

Mukuro was puzzled. What was this game supposed to do…?

It was unfamiliar to him, but Tsuna seemed to be in his element. Pushing the sleeves of his shirt up, he reached for a scoop, and sat by the trough, squatting, for a long while.

Impatient, Mukuro was about to haul Tsuna away from the stall when Tsuna suddenly made a sharp movement, and the fish was caught and placed in a water-filled small red tub laid on the ground beside the trough for any caught fish.

The runner of the stall made an impressed noise, and dumped the fish Tsuna had caught back into the water.

"That was quite a catch, young man!" The old man said kindly, bushy moustache twitching as he spoke.

Tsuna blushed, shy under the praise.

The old man chuckled, and combed fingers through his surprisingly thick white hair in one brush, then gestured grandly to the assortment of prizes, plushies, behind him.

"You can choose any one my man!"

Tsuna's eyes narrowed.

_Which one should I get?_

His eyes roved the wall until something caught his eye.

A plushy as half is body laid near the corner of the stall, obscure in the shadows of the sun. Nevertheless, Tsuna could perfectly make out the tell tale signs of silver scaled and beady black eyes- one venerable tuna plushy.

Tsuna smiled as he pointed to it.

It was perfect.

-.-.-.-

Mukuro blinked in surprise when Tsuna thrust the huge tuna plushy at him.

"What is this?"

"A plushy." Tsuna stated, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Why are you giving this to _me_?"

Tsuna started to look uncertain, the soft glow in his cheeks from his excitement dulling.

"Eh?" Tsuna's eyebrows furrowed. "Don't you like tuna? You request it every morning."

Mukuro stared at Tsuna for a minute, genuinely shocked.

And then he laughed.

It wasn't the regular eccentric laugh that had been characteristic of Mukuro, but, rather, it was true, genuine laugh, and Tsuna felt himself grow warm.

Mukuro's laugh was deep, baritone, and it had a soothing quality to it.

Tsuna smiled.

He felt he rather liked it…

And he didn't hesitate to tell Mukuro either.

"You know," he laughed, placing a hand on Mukuro's head, which was bowed in his laughter, "Your laugh is nice." He smiled. "You should laugh like that more often!"

And then Tsuna was gone again, running through the stalls like a three-year old, leaving Mukuro standing there with a slight blush across his cheeks.

-.-.-.-.-

BAM! BAM! BAM!

Mukuro fired a quick succession of shots at the balloons tied on the wall, and accordingly, three pops followed.

"Kufufufu…" Mukuro smirked. "This is nothing."

The owner of the stall merely stared at him in awe.

Having sent Tsuna out of the amusement park, he had instructed him to wait at the entrance, under the pretence of leaving something at the park.

Now, he had just finished popping twelve balloons in a row.

Blowing invisible smoke from the fake gun in his hand, he leaned it backwards until it was resting on his shoulder, unknowingly looking quite charismatic.

"Well, I believe, Mr. Stall-Owner," Mukuro smiled at the portly brunette man. "That this entails me the right to earn myself one of those overstuffed dolls on the wall, no?"

"O-of course, Sir." The poor man replied, stuttering under the naturally stifling presence that Mukuro exuded.

"Wonderful." Mukuro clapped his hands, leaning back from the counter, and smiled eerily at the man, reverting to his light-hearted façade.

"Then I'll be taking that one."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Tsuna shifted nervously from foot to foot.

Honestly, he had expected this, but he still couldn't help but feel disappointed in himself for it.

He had known from the start that he wouldn't make friends with Mukuro easily. Mukuro's whole nature testified to that. His whole demeanor, after all, simply screamed, "KEEP YOUR DISTANCE."

Nonetheless, Tsuna had hoped….had hoped…

But, no, he sighed dejectedly.

He might as well resign himself to the fact. He had felt no connection to Mukuro this entire day, not like the ones he had felt with Yamamoto and Gokudera, and even less than the one he felt with Hibari.

It was frustrating.

But Tsuna accepted the fact that he wouldn't be able to make friends with _everybody_.

…

Still, it saddened him to think that he couldn't get Mukuro to break his guard and just have fun today. It hurt him to think that those cold cobalt eyes still kept the owner's soul hidden and locked under veils upon veils of illusions, impenetrable.

And that he had no power to help him.

He was denied the chance of any further retrospection by a soft thud as something landed on his head.

Glancing up, he saw the hugest pineapple plushy in the history of mankind.

He became inarticulate.

"What I truly like are pineapples, not tuna." Mukuro started.

"But," he plucked the tuna fish that he had made Tsuna hold for him out of his arms. "I guess a change of pace would be nice. I'll take this tuna fish home."

"In exchange, I give you the pineapple."

With that, Mukuro turned briskly and walked away, to the car.

Lifting the pineapple from his head, Tsuna could only hug it as he stared after Mukuro's retreating figure in shock.

He broke out his reverie, however, when Mukuro turned to him impatiently.

"Oi!"

"Ah!" He started. "I'm coming!"

He scurried to the car and got on, closing the car door behind him.

The car revved up, backed away from the parking lot, and set off for home.

For the most part, the car ride was silent, with the occasional jolt as they crossed a bump on the road.

But throughout the whole car ride, Tsuna stared wide-eyed at Mukuro until he had snapped at him.

Still, even as he turned his head away to look out the window, he recalled what had just happened before.

As Mukuro had walked away, the wind had carried to him what Mukuro probably meant to keep unheard.

_Thank you._

He had said as he walked past Tsuna.

He had said, "Thank you."

For some reason, this made Tsuna extremely giddy.

He had, by some miracle, made an accomplishment! Not all was lost!

He smiled, drawing his knees to his chest on the leather seats of the car, gripping the pineapple in his arms more tightly.

He suddenly laughed as he caught a whiff of something in the car, and he smiled as he remember what Mukuro had said about his love for pineapples.

_It was no wonder._

Tsuna stifled a giggle as Mukuro cast him a strange look.

_He even smells like pineapples._

-.-.-.-

"I'll keep him awhile longer, if only for laughs." Mukuro decided as he got ready for bed that night.

Mukuro smirked. "He _is_ a pretty interesting guy after all."

He laughed in the dark as he recalled Tsuna's expression as he had shoved the tuna at him.

Taking a picture out from his pocket, he held it up to the moonlight to study, and then, after he had done so to his heart's content, he laid a chaste, sweet kiss upon the picture.

That night, Mukuro slept, for once in a long time, a dreamless sleep, with a smile upon his lips and wrapped around a giant tuna plushy, the picture fell from his grasp onto the floor.

The moonlight cast its glow on it, making it discernible.

It was a picture of Mukuro and Tsuna on the ride, with Tsuna clutching onto Mukuro as if he was about to die, his head buried into Mukuro's shoulder while Mukuro laughed in unadulterated glee.

In another room in the mansion, Tsuna smiled in his dreams.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

DON'T KILL MEEEE! I know you waited a long time for this chapter, and it was sort of crappy, but don't kill me!

I apologize for any grammar mistakes, but I typed it up in a rush, since I felt so guilty. Heh.

Anyway, hopefully I will update a bit quicker in the future! Keep reading, okay?

(1) SekhmetDaCat gave me the idea for this one! Thanks! Cookies for you! XD I hope you don't mind me quoting you without permission! XD


	10. Manager Needs Training!

Okay. So I haven't up dated for a really long time. I apologize for being so lazy…ehehehe. But I'm back now right?

***

Chapter Ten: Manager Needs Training?!

Tsuna wobbled into the main building of Vongola Corporations, unsteady after Gokudera had decided to drive everyone to the building after they received a phone call early in the morning to get to Vongola Corps by eight.

These people were all _crazy_! How did they get their driver's license in the first place?!

Yamamoto came up from behind him and slapped him on the back good-naturedly with his good arm.

"Are you alright, Tsuna?"

Tsuna gave a weak smile to Yamamoto and then gestured towards his messy hair and clothes and the bags under his eyes.

"One car ride just made me lose twenty years of my life." Tsuna groaned. "That's it. Next time, I'm not getting in car with Mukuro or Gokudera as the driver."

Yamamoto laughed.

"It isn't that bad."

Tsuna gave him an incredulous look.

"Not that bad?! Gokudera almost ran over an old lady today, cut through cars in _traffic_ at a hundred miles per hour and then JUMPED over two cars by driving up a ramp THAT SOMEHOW MATERIALIZED OUT OF NOWHERE!"

Yamamoto blinked. "That's normal isn't it?"

Tsuna could only gape. His concentration was broken, however, when a blur attacked him from the side.

"Aiiya~ It's the cutie again! I missed you so much~!"

Tsuna took a moment to recognize her.

"Ah, Oregano right?"

She nodded energetically.

"How have you been doing?" Tsuna asked, smiling sheepishly, "I didn't recognize you at first. Wasn't your hair pink before?"

Oregano sighed, depressed. "See, I was trying to change my look a bit but then, as it turned out that big stupid tanned brute only bought be the temporary dye, the cheap ass, and now look at my hair! I'm back to plain old boring Oregano once again."

Tsuna laughed.

"You're hardly boring."

Oregano giggled. "You sure know how to make a lady happy!"

Just then, she seemed to notice Yamamoto standing beside Tsuna.

"Ah, good morning!"

Yamamoto returned the smile.

"Oh right!" Tsuna could clearly see the imaginary light bulb light over Oregano's head.

"Anyway, Cutie-pie, I advise you to get up to The Guardians' dressing room straight away. Something special is happening today." Oregano giggled and then sighed sadly, putting a comforting hand upon Tsuna's shoulder.

"Good luck, Cutie…" Oregano sniffled and wiped away a few tears that had gathered in her eyes.

"DON'T DIE!!! FOR MEEEEE!!!!" She suddenly bawled and ran away, leaving a trail of dust behind her.

Yamamoto and Tsuna stood there for quite a long time, just staring blankly as the dust and bypassing ladies' skirts finally settled down in the wake of Oregano's quick and emotional departure.

Tsuna felt a chill crawl up his spine as Oregano's words finally registered in his brain.

_Crap._

He began to dash madly toward the entrance to the building, but just as he saw Gokudera and the rest of The Guardians enter, metal suddenly shot down outside the revolving doors leading into the building, effectively trapping Tsuna and the Guardians in there.

"What the-?!" Gokudera exclaimed, already pulling out dynamite from somewhere under his clothes.

The intercom suddenly crackled to life.

"Today is the beginning of the training session for all pending managers. As according to tradition, this day was chosen at random and was meant to be unexpected. All idols and celebrities present that were merely told to come here today to make everything seem normal are to be sent out of the building to continue their schedules as per usual. For the week that your managers are kept in here, replacement managers will be provided. Now good-bye."

Tsuna stood gaping.

_What bluntness…AND WAS THAT A BABY'S VOICE?!_

"SHIT!" Tsuna heard Gokudera scream. "THE TENTH'S NOT FRIKIN READY YET! DAMN IT! IT'S TOO DANGEROUS!"

Mukuro laughed, obviously amused. "Kufufufu….this will be interesting."

Ryohei began screaming, "GOOD LUCK SAWADA, WHAT AN EXTREME EVENT!"

Lambo started shaking his head. "Good luck…" Raising his hand, Lambo gave a mournful wave, as if to someone already dead.

_Oi! I'm not dead YET!_

Yamamoto, in his typical fashion, started chuckling. "Maa, so lucky Tsuna! You get to participate in such a fun game!"

_What part of it is FUN?!_

"I will not accept this!" Gokudera screamed, "I WILL NOT- AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"

Suddenly, trap doors sprang open beneath the feet of the members of The Guardians, and Tsuna could only watch in horror as they disappeared down into the floor and out of sight.

The last thing that Tsuna saw before he was left alone in a suddenly seemingly deserted building was Mukuro giving him a little mockingly pitying smirk and a little curt wave before disappearing.

_Why me?_

He turned his face upwards, towards the ceiling. "Why?" He asked aloud, inwardly crying, "Why me?"

Suddenly, Tsuna spotted something glowing brilliantly blue against the gray of the ceiling.

Tsuna tilted his head. "What's that?"

As the object came closer and closer, Tsuna realized too late that it was not just a light, but a human as a head, shoulders, legs, and arms came into view.

He also realized too late that he was right below the boy as well.

"Cra-!" He made to move out of the way but the boy, with gravity on his side, crushed him before he could even twitch his fingers.

_If this was a video game, that huge "OWNED" sign would have hit my head by now…_

Well, a sign didn't come down but two Sais suddenly came down and bonked him on the head.

"Ow, ow, ow." The boy above him muttered, rubbing his head.

_How can someone still not notice that they're sitting on someone at this point?_

"Um…excuse me?"

"Huh?" The boy looked around for a few minutes before looking down.

"Oh! Sorry!"

The eccentric boy, who, now, on closer inspection, was probably already twenty years old like Tsuna himself, scrambled off of Tsuna.

"No problem." Tsuna straightened himself and smiled at the other. "I'm Sawada Tsunayoshi. You?"

The boy's eyes widened. "Sawada?" He breathed, sounding surprised.

"Eh…is there something wrong?"

"Huh?" The boy snapped out of the little daze he had went into. "Uh, no…"

"No, it can't possibly be right?" The boy thought, and then said aloud, "I'm Basil, nice to meet you."

Tsuna thought it strange that no last name was mentioned, but dismissed the fact.

"Anyway, do you have any idea what's happening?"

"Hm?" Basil closed his eyes and appeared to give some thought to it while Tsuna waited patiently, eyes gleaming bright with hope.

Basil's eyes suddenly snapped open. "AH!"

"Yes, yes? What?!" Tsuna exclaimed.

_Perhaps he knows a way out?!_

"I HAVE NO IDEA!" Basil cried.

Tsuna promptly threw his head at the ground.

Basil giggled. "Sorry. The truth is my master just told me to join this event for training."

_M-master?! What world is this guy living in?_

Tsuna must have looked devastated at that moment, and perhaps a bit freaked out as well because the next moment, Basil laid a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"It's ok. The Acrobaleno are hosting this event so it should be fine."

Tsuna's eyes snapped up.

_What?! The Acrobaleno?! Isn't it that super elusive faction in Vongola Corporations with the youngest but most capable people in the company?_

"Wait, Bas-"

Suddenly there was a whirring sound, and Tsuna and Basil watched as a small helicopter, as if made for the size of a baby, suddenly appeared above their heads.

"Hello!" A tiny baby voice resounded from the airplane.

A black blur suddenly jumped down from the tacky orange helicopter.

"Hmph!" The black blur let out a tiny grunt as it fell on the floor on one knee.

That black blur turned out to be a small personage dressed in a black suit with an equally black fedora with an orange stripe going around it. A small green chameleon rested on the brim of the hat. Hanging in the front of the baby's suit, where the tie should have been, hung a yellow pacifier that seemed too big for the baby's small frame.

Slowly, the baby raised its head.

"I am…" The baby smirked. "REBORN!"

And so the week began.

***

Tsuna had seen many things in his life, but nothing could have prepared himself for a talking baby that jumped down from a helicopter that looks like it was stolen from Toys R Us.

Thus, when the baby so confidently introduced itself as Reborn, all Tsuna could think of in the ensuing five minutes of silence was the following.

_WHAT THE HELL?! A BABY?! _

And then, two minutes into the silence.

_Wait. Did he say Reborn?! Isn't that the guy who Bianchi likes?! The one who keeps rejecting her?! Impossible! He's just a baby! Wait… is this some kind of TV program that tricks poor unsuspecting NORMAL people? TELL ME IT IS! _

…_Well, it can also be that Bianchi likes another Reborn, but it's such an uncommon name…_

Tsuna was promptly pulled back to reality when the baby suddenly kicked him in the head, sending him to the ground.

"What the-?!"

"Don't be rude. I was still introducing myself."

The baby's large jet-black eyes seemed to be laughing at him.

"Anyway, I am Reborn, and I am one of the Acrobaleno."

_Say WHAT?! I knew the Acrobaleno were young, but BABIES?!_

Suddenly, a gunshot was fired, and a bullet made a sizeable hole through the wall behind Tsuna. The bullet had missed Tsuna by a mere hair-breadth.

Shocked, Tsuna could only stare at the baby incredulously, or, more accurately, the smoking end of the gun it was holding.

"Don't look down on me." Reborn smirked. "I know what you were thinking."

_It's sort of hard to NOT look down at you…_

Tsuna looked at Reborn standing on the ground, and realized Reborn only came up to his calves.

Another bullet was fired.

"I heard that."

Tsuna cried inwardly.

_I'm scared._

Reborn looked directly into Tsuna's eyes.

"I thought so."

_Hi-hiiiii!_

Reborn chuckled inwardly to himself. _Heh. Cute._

"I guess I should explain all this," Reborn motioned to signify the whole event.

"Well, aside from this event being a tradition, we also decided to host it because we were bored."

_JUST BECAUSE THEY WERE BORED?!_

Reborn gave him a withering look.

_Hi-HIIIIIII!!_

"So we made a little bet. Of the seven Acrobaleno, whoever trains the managers the best wins the game."

Reborn gave a freaky smile.

"And I-do-not-like-to-lose." Reborn said, enunciating every word.

Tsuna's sob had escalated to blubbering deep within his mind.

"Therefore…" Reborn cocked his gun. "Get ready for one week of HELL."

Poor Inner Tsuna had already fainted.

***

It turns out that there were seven different teams of managers taking part in the event, and each team was made up of two managers, making a total of fourteen hoping-to-be-managers participating in total.

Basil and Tsuna apparently was one team, training under Reborn.

That made it better, except for the fact that…

"During the course of this week, at a specific point at every day the training sessions will start. For this team, we will meet here for the training sessions. You will be notified when this period is through the intercom. Otherwise, you just roam around the building trying to survive this week of hell." Reborn casually lectured.

"There will be food found in the building so all you have to do is find it."

Tsuna sighed, relieved.

_At least we don't have to worry about food._

"Oh!" Reborn suddenly exclaimed. "That won't be too easy though- getting food I mean. I forgot to mention this. Basically, the aim of this game is to see who would last in the end- the team that lasts until the end will be named the best trained, and the Acrobaleno that trained them would win the bet. But, also, those who win will be guaranteed a high position in this company, and there are some pretty desperate and dangerous as well as competent people who applied to be managers this year."

Reborn gave Tsuna a look. "Well, of course, there are always exceptions."

_HEY!_

Reborn turned to Tsuna. "What? I DARE you to say what you just thought."

"Nevermind." Tsuna squeaked.

"So basically, you will probably have to fight people to survive this week. And since I'm training you, you better win. 'Cause if you don't, after your opponents beat the crap out of you, I'll come get you myself and riddle your sorry butts with holes. And if you get killed, I'll personally drag you back from hell and make hell seem like heaven."

Reborn smiled sweetly. "Okay?"

His face suddenly became dark. "I told you I hate to lose so if you lose a fight you KNOW what will happen."

"Trust me. You don't want to experience it."

Tsuna believed him wholeheartedly. But he couldn't fight, so how was he going to survive?

"Anyway, do not fear because I will be training you-"

The intercom suddenly crackled to life.

"NAP TIME!"

Reborn jumped up into the helicopter.

"It's already nap time so I guess I'll leave training until tomorrow. Don't die getting dinner!"

"Hey." Tsuna cried. "You can't do this!"

Snoring could be heard from the helicopter as it slowly whirred away towards the staircase.

He already fell asleep?!

"Hey! Hey!"

Just as Tsuna was about to chase it up the stairs though, he halted.

It wouldn't be safe to chase after it alone- the other managers, from what Reborn had said, seemed to be the type of people who would have no problems bashing his face into the ground.

It would be best to journey around with someone around the building.

Tsuna turned towards Basil.

"Hey, Basil, what are we going to do?"

Basil grinned. "Don't worry Sawada-dono! With me, you have nothing to fear!"

_What age does this guy live in? Sawada-dono?!_

For the first time, Tsuna observed Basil closely. Basil would, after all, be his only ally during this week. However, what he saw made Tsuna suddenly very disheartened.

Basil's build was similar to Tsuna's- they were both of slight frame- Basil was just a bit taller than Tsuna. Like Tsuna, he also had brown hair, but as opposed to Tsuna's dark chocolate brown hair, Basil's hair was more light sandy brown than anything else. Also, unlike Tsuna, Basil's hair was shoulder-length, and if not for the leather jacket and pants that Basil was wearing, Tsuna would have thought Basil a girl from a distance.

The only thing that gave Tsuna comfort was Basil's blue eyes- it seemed to exude a strength that belied his appearance.

That, and of course, the shiny Sais that had dropped with Basil from before- those would certainly prove useful.

Basil smiled understandingly.

"I know I may not look like much, but trust me. I'm strong. I can protect you, Sawada-dono."

Basil squeezed Tsuna's hand gently.

"Shall we get dinner now? I'm hungry." Basil grinned, tummy rumbling.

Tsuna laughed, his anxiety suddenly disappearing.

For some reason, he trusted Basil immediately.

Perhaps it was his intuition, or perhaps he simply felt Basil's confidence and strength through the reassuring grip on his hand. But whatever the reason, he suddenly felt as if he could trust Basil- somehow, he seemed so familiar…

Had they met before?

So, smiling in that way that only Tsuna could, so full of sincerity and trust, Tsuna nodded his head.

"Yep! I'm hungry too."

Basil could only stare, slightly stunned by the smile. No one had ever smiled at him like that before except...

When there was no reply, Tsuna tilted his head to the side.

"Basil? You okay?"

"Huh? Oh? Yea…." Basil laughed. "Let's go!"

Leading the way, Basil headed up the staircase.

"We shouldn't go to the cafeteria. Most likely, everyone will think of the same idea and go there. It's better if we find food elsewhere- hopefully the people who will clash there will eliminate some of our opponents for us."

"Okay." Tsuna paused. "But where should we go then?"

"I'm pretty sure the staff room should have something. It's relatively safe too, so let's go there first."

"Alright."

The pair slowly and quietly eased themselves along the hallways, making sure no one was around the corners before continuing on. Finally, after some careful maneuvering, they reached the staff room door.

Basil motioned for Tsuna to be quiet before warily opening the door, just in case there was an ambush waiting on the other side.

However, when the door finally eased open, what they saw sent goose bumps to the two boys standing at the door.

In the darkness of the staff room, there were two crimson eyes staring at them with hatred…and somehow, in the midst of the fear that suddenly struck Tsuna's heart, Tsuna heard Basil take a sharp intake of breath and utter one name with undeniable loathing.

"Xanxus."

*******

Oh my god. I can't believe I am finally updating this. It was a long time since I last updated, so I apologize for any choppiness in my writing, and I hoped you enjoyed it.

Anyhow, I will try to update more frequently, but I can't guarantee anything.

I hope you people keep reading! Please put up with this writer's selfishness for a while longer~


	11. Dummy's Guide to Survival

Hey, guys! Ahehehehehe~ Look at how much time has passed since the last update! Hehehehe *wipes brow* First, I'd like to apologize for how long it took to update a new chapter. It's been what, a few years?

I was sort of surprised to find that people were _still _reviewing after all these years, and well, I'm really touched. So, because King Guilt will threaten to split my heart in half if I did not do this, I have a New Year's Present for all!

Chapter Eleven: Dummy's Guide to Survival

Basil gripped onto his Sais harder, and a bead of sweat rolled down his face.

"Tsuna-dono," Basil whispered quietly, "You might want to step away from this. It is going to get pretty intense in here."

Basil's eyes remained on the crimson eyes staring back at them, but he gave Tsuna a gentle push to get him away from the door way.

Tsuna, however, did not budge. He just continued to stare, before he let out a little sigh and smiled.

"It's ok," Tsuna breathed, "I don't think I'll have to do that."

Before Basil could stop him, Tsuna advanced toward the crimson eyes, flicking the light switch on along the way.

Basil stilled for a minute before he began to laugh, brushing away some strands of hair from his face.

"False alarm, huh?" He chuckled, nervously swiping sweat from his brow.

"Xanxus" turned out to be nothing more than a alarm clock meant to be modeled after Yami from Yu-Gi-Oh!. It had been the figurine's eyes that were glowing in the dark.

Tsuna grinned and began to ruffle through the cupboards for food while Basil checked the halls for enemies.

Finding a plastic bag left on the round table in the middle of the room, Tsuna began packing what they would need for the rest of the week. He ditched the ramen cups because he doubted they would be able to get boiling water without risking their lives during this week.

Tsuna had been thinking about this along the way to the staff room, but it was relatively easy to survive. As long as they found a good place to hide, they would be set. With food and water enough to last a week, they could just wait out the end of the - well, whatever this was.

He sighed, sliding the last of the goods into the little plastic bag.

_Maybe I'm thinking too optimistically._

Tsuna grabbed a whole package of plastic cups, and turned to Basil.

"Hey, Basil."

"Yes, Sawada-dono?"

"Do you mind carrying that?" Tsuna inclined his head toward a huge 5-gallon container of water. "I was thinking, we don't even have to fight or participate in this event. The whole goal is to survive this week of torture, isn't it? So all we have to do is hide out until then, no? If we have enough food and water to last us for the week, we should be ok!"

Tsuna grinned, happy with his plan.

"We just have to find a safe room!"

Basil appeared puzzled by the plan.

"Sawada-dono...are you intending on avoiding conflict?"

"Of course! Isn't that obvious?" Tsuna turned to look at Basil, and flinched.

He recognized the emotion swimming in his eyes too well.

Basil lowered his eyes and his lips formed a thin line.

Without another word, he glided over to the container of water, and easily hoisted the large object on his shoulder.

Basil quietly walked until he reached the doorway, where he turned and turned to Tsuna, peering at him from under sandy brown locks.

"Well, aren't you coming, Sawada-_dono_?" His eyes were cold, his tone mocking.

Tsuna shuddered and looked down, attempting to control his trembling as Basil calmly walked out into the hallway, not even bothering to be careful as they had been when sneaking to the staff room.

It was unmistakable. Basil had looked at him with the same eyes all the other kids at the playground used to look at him, the same eyes that the employer who had hired him at the zoo had looked at him with when he was dismissed.

Basil's eyes had been filled with disappointment, and worst of all, disgust.

The worst thing was, Tsuna had no idea what had caused that at all.

A heavy weight settled at the pit of Tsuna's stomach.

Following Basil quietly and solemnly out into the hallway, Tsuna clutched at his clothes.

_This week is not going to be easy after all._

_... _

Amazingly enough, they ran into no other manager teams on their search for a safe room. Tsuna did not know whether to accept this as sheer good luck, or as a warning. Things were almost too easy thus far, especially after Reborn had seemed to stress that this was going to be a pretty difficult ordeal.

It was like the calm before the storm.

Tsuna silently followed Basil into a room. Frankly, Tsuna had no idea where they were. Too shaken up by Basil's sudden change of attitude, he had just followed Basil's feet silently, too scared to look up and take in their surroundings.

As Basil set down the water container, Tsuna finally took his chance to look up and examine the room.

Strategically, it was a very smart room to stay in for the remainder of the week. It looked to be some sort of office for a person higher up on the company food chain, but not too high. Tsuna glanced at the plaque on the door and determined that this was the office of the vice head of the public relations department.

Of course.

It was someone with a relatively secure office, but none of the obvious headquarters the other teams would have occupied by now, like the CEO office, or one of the more obvious higher-ups.

Tsuna set the food down on the desk, which was suspiciously clear of any papers. He began to walk around the room and identified three possible escape routes.

One was the window, which thankfully could only be opened from the inside. The glass was also from a pretty good brand, and it would hold for at least a few minutes, or enough time at any rate, to escape in time if anyone decided to break in through that entrance with brute force.

Another was what Tsuna initially thought was a closet until he opened the door and saw stairs. Whether the stairs led anywhere, Tsuna decided to check it out later.

The final escape route was the door they had come in from. The door had a pretty advanced lock on it, and it was made of metal, so it would also provide enough time to escape should people try to forcibly break in.

Tsuna let out a sigh of relief. Looks like this room would provide a pretty good chance of survival.

Feeling a bit more relaxed, he chanced a glance at Basil, and was surprised to see him leaving.

"A-ah! Wait, where are you going?"

"To fight, what else? It was my master's wish that I learn something from this experience."

"B-but why? This is a pretty good place to hide, and -"

"Unlike you," Basil cut in, "I have no wish to take the easy way out. I am no coward. I will go out and fight."

Tsuna felt rage begin to bubble within him. His hands fisted and his body began to shake uncontrollably.

"Why," Tsuna breathed in shakily, "does everyone believe that violence is the answer to everything?"

Basil turned to face Tsuna, startled at the sudden change in tone.

Tsuna was glaring at him, eyes burning golden with some emotion Basil could not quite place.

"Fighting is not always the answer." Tsuna said, voice oddly stable now. "Basil, fighting makes _you_ the coward."

With that, Tsuna could not bear Basil's presence any longer. He wrenched open the door to the secret passage way, and disappeared down the stairs after slamming the door closed behind him.

Basil faltered for a minute, taking a step toward where Tsuna had disappeared, but stopped himself.

He quietly stepped out and closed the office door.

...

Tsuna sat at the bottom of the stairs, hearing the audible click as the door closed. Burrowing his face in the crook of his arms, he closed his eyes.

He hadn't meant to snap at Basil, really, but his words were really similar to his fath-

Tsuna shivered. He didn't want to even consider _that man_ as his father. But Basil's words almost matched _his_ word's to the letter.

It made Tsuna remember some things he'd rather forget.

Suddenly exhausted by the day's turn of events, he turned on his side, curled into a ball, and fell into a fitful sleep.

...

_It was a dream. Tsuna knew it was because he seemed to be floating, watching something that had happened a long time ago. _

_He peered down. _

_A five year old version of himself backed up against a tree in the park, cornered by the neighborhood Chihuahua._

_"Get away from me!" the tiny Tsuna cried, clutching a bright yellow ball close to his chest. _

_The Chihuahua merely growled menacingly and advanced towards the terrified boy. _

_Not knowing what to do, Tsuna threw the yellow ball at the dog, hoping to scare it away._

_The plan backfired in poor Tsuna's face. Enraged, the small dog launched itself at Tsuna, jaws snapping, drool flying. _

_Tsuna snapped his eyes shut and curled in on himself, preparing himself for the worst. _

_He almost felt the dog's breath on him when he was suddenly whisked into a strong pair of arms. _

_"Ah~ Ah~ Tsuna~ you can't be like this~ You're a man!" _

_Tsuna cautiously opened his eyes and grinned when he saw who had rescued him. _

_"Papa!" Tsuna grinned and happily clutched his father's, Iemitsu's worn white wife beater._

_Iemitsu turned to the Chihuahua and stared at it straight in the eyes. _

_The Chihuahua managed to hold Iemitsu's gaze for a few moments before it could last no longer and ran away whimpering with its tail between its legs. _

_"See, Tsuna!" Iemitsu laughed heartily, "This is how it's done!"_

_"Papa! You're awesome! That was like magic!"_

_Iemitsu brought his son over to a nearby bench and sat down, standing Tsuna up on his lap._

_"Listen, Tsuna! A man has to stand up to his opponent no matter what the odds! He's got to look at them right in the eyes and show he's not afraid to get a little hurt! He has to fight and do whatever it takes to win!"_

_"If I do that, will I be just like you, Papa?" Tsuna asked excitedly, eyes sparkling._

_"Of course!" _

_"When I grow up, Papa, I wanna be just like you!"_

_Iemitsu smiled softly and ruffled his son's soft brown hair._

_The older Tsuna, still trapped in his dreams, could do nothing as the surroundings suddenly began to fade into black._

_..._

_Gradually, light began to form again. _

_Tsuna saw himself, now a bit older, perhaps around 8, nestled in his mother's lap. _

_"Mama?"_

_"Yes, Tsu-kun?" _

_"Where's Papa?" Tsuna fiddled with his green dinosaur sweater. _

_Pain suddenly flitted across Nana's, his mother's face. Little Tsuna did not notice this from his position._

_"Papa...Papa, he..." Nana swallowed. How was she supposed to tell her child that his father might have abandoned them?_

_"Papa..." Nana tried again, voice faltering._

_"Papa became a star," She finally managed to say, remembering the last conversation she had ever had with her husband. _

_"A star, Mama?" Tsuna inclined his head to the side, "When is he going to visit us again, Mama?"_

_Nana wanted to respond like she always did: "Soon, Tsu-kun." or "Your Papa is busy with his work right now, but he'll come back as soon as he has his break." _

_But she couldn't._

_She was just so, so tired of lying to her child, of lying to herself behind that cheesy oblivious grin she painted on her face every day. She was so tired of waking up lonely every morning in their king-sized bed and telling herself that this, this was going to be the day Iemitsu would suddenly come back, whisk her into his arms and make everything okay again. _

_"I don't know, Tsu-kun." She whispered._

_Tsuna yawned and lay his head softly against his mother's bosom, wrapping his tiny arms halfway around his mother's waist. _

_Nana smiled and stroked her son's hair. For some reason, he always knew how to make her feel better._

_Tsuna began to drift off to sleep. _

_"Mama," he murmured sleepily._

_"Yes, Tsu-kun?" Nana smiled softly._

_"I miss Papa." _

_Nana remained quiet until Tsuna's breathing evened, and he was asleep._

_It was only then that she allowed herself to break down._

_"I know, Tsu-kun." Fat tears rolling down her cheeks. _

_"I know, Tsu-kun." She tried to wipe them away before they plopped onto Tsuna's tiny head and woke him up._

_"I miss Papa too."_

_... _

_This time, Tsuna noted from his floating position, he was a lot older, possibly around 20._

_His mother laid in a hospital bed, hooked to so many machines it looked as if she were a robot rather than a live human being. There was no longer a smile on her face._

_Everything about Nana was blank now - her face, the sheets, the hospital gown on her malnourished form. _

_She was nothing but a shell of her former self. _

_Twenty year old Tsuna smiled anyway and set a fresh bouquet of flowers down carefully next to his mother. _

_He grabbed his mother's limp hands and brought them to his lips. _

_"Mom, wake up soon, ok? I'm doing as fine as I can do in school. I don't know how, but it looks like I'll actually graduate from college!" Here, Tsuna chuckled a bit, "...Which isn't that good, but hey, is that a surprise?"_

_"I have a job now actually, at the supermarket near our home, and I'm eating well, Mom, so don't worry!"_

_Twenty year old Tsuna glanced at a clock on the wall and grimaced. _

_"Well, sorry, Mom, but I have to run. I have a class at the university soon." Tsuna stood and planted a chaste kiss on Nana's forehead. _

_"See you later, Mom. Don't worry about me and get healthy soon!" Tsuna smiled and left the room._

_As soon he closed the door, Tsuna let his smile drop and leant his head against door for a minute._

_"Don't worry about me, Mom. I promise I'll never grow up to be like Iemitsu."_

_... _

Tsuna woke up to the sound of glass and tears dampening his cheeks.

Still disoriented from the abrupt awakening, he lightly swiped the tears away with the sleeve of his shirt and rubbed away the sleep-induced fog from his vision.

He glanced down and blinked.

Beside his feet were a bunch of pills and a pair of gloves.

Curiously, he picked up the bottle of pills and read the label on it.

"Enhancement pills?" He muttered to himself, confused. "Are they steroids are something?"

He didn't have time to linger on the thought though, because there was suddenly the sound of crunching glass in the office up above.

He glanced at the pills and the gloves one more time before he stuffed the pills in his pocket and donned the gloves.

He had no idea why they were left there but he had a feeling they would come in handy.

"VOII!" A loud, brash voice suddenly cut through the silence. "YOU STINKIN' TRASH! WHERE THE HELL IS YOUR PARTNER?"

"I have no idea what you are speaking of, _Squalo_." Basil's voice replied, calm and steady.

"DON'T PLAY DUMB, TRASH!"

Tsuna's eyes widened.

Basil was _protecting _him. That was why, even though he had enough time to do so, Basil did not come running down to where he was to hide.

Guilt rushed through Tsuna. He was protecting him, even after that fight they had had.

"VOOOOIIIIII! I'LL JUST TEAR THIS PLACE DOWN THEN!"

Suddenly, Basil crashed through the door hiding the secret staircase and fell, rolling down the stairs to where Tsuna was standing at the bottom.

"Basil!" Tsuna cried.

"S-Sawada-dono." Basil stared at him with bleary, strangely glowing blue eyes. "I-I'm sorry." Basil seemed to have reached his limits. He lost consciousness.

Tsuna didn't even have time to move before the man named Squalo stopped at the top of the stairs.

Tsuna raised his eyes from Basil, scared of what he would see.

A tall man, obviously of some European descent, was standing there in an all-black attire. Tsuna was slightly frightened to note that the man only had one hand; in place of the missing hand was a sword.

A _sword. _

_What the hell did I get into? _

"VOOIIIII!" Squalo grinned, reminding Tsuna of vicious sharks.

"I FOUND YOU!"

_Shit. _

Maneuvering Basil to a careful position against the wall, Tsuna did the one thing he could think of to protect Basil.

He picked up a pebble, looked Squalo straight in the eyes, and pelted him with it.

The pebble bounced off of Squalo's beautiful, long, silver hair.

There was a long and terrible silence.

The sound of the pebble hitting the floor was deafening in Tsuna's pounding ears.

"VOOOIIII! YOU LITTLE SHRIMP! WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?"

Tsuna turned and ran for his goddamn life.

...

Tsuna wheezed as he ran around another corner.

Honestly, he hadn't been thinking. All he had wanted to do was draw Squalo's attention away from Basil. From the looks of things, he was successful.

Thankfully, the stairs had led to an underground network of sorts. It was like a maze. Tsuna had no idea where he was going, but wherever there were stairs, he took them, hoping to lose Squalo in the process.

Something exploded behind him but he did not look back.

"VOIII! YOU FUCKING SQUIRT! STOP GODDAMNIT!"

Something whizzed by his head as he turned another corner just in time. The wall he had been running towards suddenly split in two, sending debris flying everywhere.

_Oh my god. _

He was so screwed.

He ran up another flight of stairs and saw a door.

Tsuna's face brightened. Maybe it was an exit!

Slamming it open, he ran into another office. This one, however, was completely different from the one Basil had scouted out.

It was more luxurious, for one. Plush, red carpet covered the floor here, and there was a beautiful view of the city from the glass windows.

The plaque on the marble desk informed Tsuna that this was the CEO's office.

Hearing footsteps behind him, Tsuna did the first thing he could think of and ran for the desk, squeezing himself into the small space beneath it.

"Please don't find me," Tsuna prayed.

"VOIII!" Squalo ran into the office.

"BOSS! DID YOU HAPPEN TO SEE THE FUCKIN' SHRIMP?"

Tsuna paused.

_Did he just talk to himself?_

Unfortunately, for Tsuna, that was not the case.

"You mean the fucking trash that just hid himself under the desk?" A gruff voice drawled from a corner of the room.

Tsuna wanted to hit himself. How the hell had he managed to miss another person in the room?

He felt like hyperventilating. What was he supposed to do now?

He was going to _die_, Tsuna realized.

Panic seized him. There was still so much he had to do.

He _couldn't _die yet.

A dull ache from his behind suddenly reminded him of something.

Reaching into his pants pocket, he pulled out the bottle of pills, which had been uncomfortably jabbing into his backside.

He had no idea what the label had meant by enhancement, but as things stood, it was his only hope for survival.

Taking a shaky breath, Tsuna popped a pill into his mouth.

_Please, please let me live._

He swallowed.

...

Alright! So there's my update! (Finally.) I wish you all a very happy new year and I hope you enjoyed the chapter!


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